ソイレントグリーン・オンライン Soylent Green Online
by YukagiTamiya
Summary: WHAT IS THE SECRET OF THIS FANFIC? We have wondered for so long exactly WHY Akihiko Kayaba kills his players. Now, we will know.
1. Crystal of Death

**It's the year 2022... People are still the same. They'll do anything to get what they need. And they need, among OTHER THINGS, a NerveGear.**

* * *

_Anyone...?_

The voice was feeble, but in the absolute silence of the blinding darkness, it rang clear as a bell.

_Please...?_

Vey soft sobbing.

The voice went to say something, but the words were now garbled, and muffled in a frenzy of whispers. Sometimes one could make out a word or two, but this blubbering went on for some time. For how long, it was really difficult to estimate in the maddening blackout.

And then...

_I did all this for Kayaba... I looked up to him. He is a savior..._

Garble.

_I can't... I..._

_Please..._

_No... No..._

The voice started to go hysteric, but whoever the owner of it was, she (I believe it was a she) was quickly being dragged away into the vast unknown distance where her screams counted for nothing anymore.

_No...!_

* * *

**"No!"**

* * *

"Leafa, help me!"

Silica dangled thirty feet in the air. Both her feet were bound by foot-thick cables-excuse me, vines-so she can't use any of her foot techniques. She couldn't reach the plant monster's tentacles either so there was no help forthcoming from her short gladius blade. An enormous gaping plant mouth lay right below her.

"Haahh..." cried Leafa in frustration. "This was the 34th time you got caught by that thing! Seriously, die for once so you could learn."

"You're so cold," she whined. The mouth came closer. She might try throwing her dagger into that thing's insides but that was never done before. If only she had enough time to weigh the odds...

"Somebody, get me out!" she bawled. "Now!"

Just then, the monster lit up. An arrow hit it from behind. Lizbeth's. It splintered into shining pieces and Silica back-flipped, landing on her feet.

"Phew!" she only sighed, all traces of fright vanished. "Sure didn't have a workout lately."

"Wrong, you idiot!" reprimanded Leafa. "You forgot everything I told you. You got that Gleam crystal, right? You could've just flashed a blinding light on that plantsie and it'd let you go right away!"

The kid only yawned. She can do it on purpose just to insult someone. "What an uncool way to beat something," she said as her pet dragon Pina landed on her shoulder. She nuzzled it. "Right, sweetie?" Giggle.

"And you!" said Leafa turning her anger on Lizbeth. "Always giving her the fast track. Can't you guys take your game seriously?"

She only laughed. "Girl. We've cleared the place already. These potted pansies are nothing. I could walk into a virtual Starbucks with a million million of those snapping at me."

"That's not what I'm saying! The tournaments! How will we win if we don't shape up early?"

Liz turned an incredulous look on her. Seems she has forgotten about the matter for a bit. "Hahah," she said softly. "We don't live for that kind of action, do we?"

"You know that players who die in the tournaments could not be contacted anymore," reminded Leafa soberly.

The two looked at her uneasily for a second.

Silica laughed. "Of course, Leafs. That only means they're not man enough for the contest so they deserve it. Humph. Probably their accounts got blocked for a month."

"Besides," added Liz, "We're not the ones most guilty of loafing." She motioned in the direction of a toadstool-like tree, on which they could see Kirito take time off with his Asuna.

"Laggardly lovebirds," frowned Lizbeth. But she took it back. "Nothing we can do about people in love, eh?" she sighed.

"Now, now," said Silica. "Nothing can take those two apart, even at school, remember?

"And now that school's out for good," seconded Leafa, "what can you expect?"

They sighed in unison. Then laughed as an afterthought.

* * *

"Kirito," said Asuna throwing him that glare.

"Wha-" he fumbled, "No, I wasn't saying-"

"Yes you were. I know they call you the Harem Master (TM), but you don't have to take it seriously, now... _do you?"_

"I only said I wanted that crystal."

"No, man. You said you want DJ Crystal."

"I don't even know her! Cut that, will you?"

Asuna deftly snatched a photo of the jock from his breast pocket, complete with autograph. She was a sweet-looking lady. "You don't know _this? _Idiot! First, that nurse..."

He was stunned. "No! Silica put it there! A-Ask her! She's the real fan."

She turned her ire to the girls below. "Hey! Silk! You know a DJ Crystal?"

"Hiyeah!" she agreed. "I love her! When I grow up, I wanna be like her."

"Assuming you actually grow up..." commented Lizbeth.

"No fair! And don't call me Silk!"

"I didn't- Wait!"

Asuna turned back to his boyfriend not caring if the horseplaying girls end up murdering each other. He bristled for a harangue, but his girl only sighed irritably. She wasn't really the type to nag. He straightened himself. "Look, let me make this straight. I only said I wanted a _crystal. A gem. The blue crystal. _I need it for the tournament."

She finally sobered up with a sigh. "So what's with the tourneys? Why are you so worked up? I heard there won't be another one for a month. I need a date."

"Yui approves," Yui said approvingly.

"We can't take this thing lightly, dear," explained Kirito. "You know for one that the players who die in Kayaba's contests got their accounts blocked."

"How did you know?" said Asuna narrowing her eyes.

"Well... Uh, that must be the case. That's what the others say. Look here. Why else wouldn't we hear from those guys for months now?"

She sighed. "I just wonder where Chi-chan is now," she said about a cute player she got close with and got killed off much earlier in the game. "And Cheese-kun. And Sandwich-chan."

"Don't worry, dear," he said tapping her shoulder. "Once we win all the tournaments, we'll force Kayaba to restore everyone." He got up and jumped off, and shouted back. "Let's go!"

* * *

"Onii-chan," Leafa complained, "lately we girls have been doing all the dirty work, don't you think?"

He wasn't listening. He was busy savoring the rich blend of Cinnamon Dolce latte, in an upscale virtual cafe oozing with light jazz and suffused with all sorts exotic aromas, draped with living green and sparkling with waterfalls. The others weren't paying attention, either.

"Haah," she said, giving up. "I always thought my Onii-chan would be an ideal gentleman."

"Don't worry," said Lizbeth, "In the next tournament (*wink*) _he _will do all the fighting for us."

"Nooo..." whined Leafa. "Now all of those SAO critics will say Onii-chan's an overpowered airbag. Stupid bashers."

"Guys," Kirito explained. "I'm sorry if I miss out on the action, but I must focus on the tournament. You all know how vicious Akihiko Kayaba can be." Stretching out, "I have just decided that the only way for us to have a fair chance of surviving him would be a massive headstart: power up all of our stats from the outset, with plenty of healing. The only item with enough energy for all that is-"

"The blue crystal," they all answered in awe.

"Perfect coordination there," he remarked. "However, the blue gem is held by a very powerful boss in the dungeon at Floor 68. The way we are now, a five-man... ehem, excuse me... one-man-four-girl band, won't cut it for an enemy that strong. So I called for some reinforcements."

Kirito clapped his hands (as cliche as it gets, isn't he?) and from the entrance of the cafe came a man of lean, slightly muscular build, someone who was obviously an agility character. Klein. "Well, look what I got. I'd sure love to fight in a team full of lovely ladies."

"Ohhh, come on!" laughed Silica, tickled. "Such compliments from a stranger, you're too kind."

Kirito laughed. "I don't want to stir more fangirling from you, but... Well, this time I hope you get a hold of your heart."

"What," she said in a gasp of breath, suddenly anticipating.

"Ladies... Our second import."

A woman with short, aquamarine hair, clad in a long, gray robe, had been sitting at the bar listening to their conversation, but now stood up and came over to them. She projected quite a presence. The girl couldn't quite make out anything of her.

"Guys," Kirito spoke up again, pulling the photo of the jock from earlier from his pocket. "You might have been wondering what this picture was for. It's true that Silica put it in my pocket, but only because I pretended to be a fan so I asked it from her. I was holding on to this so it could be handy for the introduction.

Silica's mouth hung. "No way," she whimpered covering her mouth, trembling with delight.

The lady coughed. I'm a part-time DJ at Nihon Radio, punching virtual lead into GGO skulls when I'm off the air."

She doffed her robe in a flourish, revealing a sexy military outfit, with a huge Hecate sniper rifle slung behind her back, a number of pistols snug on her belt. The girls were completely floored with astonishment. "How did you get all that into ALO?" they chorused.

"DJ Crystal!" cried Silica rushing to her star and hugging her. "I-can't-believe-I-will-live-to-see-you-alive," she rattled off in a frantic staccato. "Oh-my-what-am-I-saying-I-should-bang-my-head-on-a-wall!"

A hand planted itself on Silica's surprised face, and shoved it away from the jock's torso. "I'm not like this on air, but online, I have no patience for the goofiness of kids." She finally pushed Silica onto the floor. "Not to burst your bubble kid, but..." She loaded her pistol.

Sinon opened her palm and let a flower materialize. The bloom floated up into the air. With a few well-landed shots, the flower burst into smithereens.

_"Sugoi..."_ was all Leafa could say.

Silica, heartbroken, got up and ran. "I hate you!" Bawling.

"W-Wait," spoke up Asuna. "You haven't answered the question. Surely the admins could have prevented you from taking non-world items into Aincrad?"

"She's a hacker," Kirito simply said. "That's the main reason I picked her. We might be able to uncover whatever Kayaba's sneaking up on us."

"This is my first time in this game, so I won't promise you much," Sinon quickly disclaimed. "Though I must say I was actually looking forward to be here." Stretch. "Ahh! I badly need to unwind. Would you believe how hard it is to wrangle a break from the station? They gave me exactly two days off for the whole year! Which is what I'm using up right now, by the way. Think of it! Two whole days out of three hundred sixty-five and one-fourth! I even tried to negotiate that one-fourth day, and they were like, no, and I was like, 'Man, it's only six hours!' "

Kirito laughed. "Stop fretting, sis. You'll get plenty of fun here in Aincrad. Truth to tell, even just this one boss fight coming up would me more than a handful for you."

He was suddenly taken aback by hard-and-fast glare from Sinon.

"Are you saying I can't handle an ordinary fairy-tale boss fight?"

Flat in his face. "Well... no... and..." In a whisper, "Didn't you say it's your first time?"

"Well I think I should find out how well _you _fight. A duel!"

* * *

"Um, Sinon," said Kirito. "I still think it's not appropriate for you to use firearms in Aincrad."

"And you kept insisting on that cheesy light-thingy in GGO! Just shut up and fight, 'K?"

"I'm sorry. Blade weapons are not that out-of-place in a gun contest, but guns in a fantasy world just won't cut it."

"I want a duel, not a debate!"

"Sorry, sis, but I'll keep debating you until you kindly drop your pride." Wink.

She snorted spitefully. _Ughh... trying to weigh his charisma in on me. Why does it have to work? _"Heh. You just don't want me to be in my element. Very well."

She donned her robe again and pulled the hood over her head. "I gather this fits in here?"

"Umm... Yeah?" He wasn't quite sure what she was up to.

In another magnificent flourish, Sinon let the side of her robe fly off to one side theatrically, revealing a very large weapon which she immediately took out and spun dizzyingly before finally taking a fighting stance. She wielded a massive scythe. "Look, Kirito!" she shouted. "No bullets!"

Everybody's jaws dropped. "W-Wait," fumbled Kirito, "I-I thought you'd uh..." he was taking some steps back as Sinon approached him. "Uh... have um, arrows? Axe? Spells? Hey, that's cool, right? Spells shoot just like ammo."

_"I've had enough of your trash!" _she yelled, charging. She brought down the huge curving blade on him; he missed it by a hair, sustaining only a small but clean incision of wound, glowing a pixellated red like a fleck of bioluminiscent spittle. This wasn't something to play with.

Surprisingly, there weren't many moves to counter. The thing was designed for the farm, anyway, and if he could stand back and coolly observe her she was no different from a drunk throwing a tantrum and flailing around with a club. But Sinon was so fast, the swinging blade so huge he could not launch an offense, constantly dodging and dodging.

"Kirito-kun!" shouted Asuna with worry. "Be careful!"

"Papa!" cried Yui.

Kirito decided to take flight, wanting some space to lay back and take stock of his strategy.

"Coward!" yelled Sinon. "So you resort to an unfair advantage! Is that all you can manage? I vow I will not let you get away! Prepare to die!"

"So the hacker is talking now, isn't she? Can't I take a break? No one's giving you one-fourth of a day if you can't allow five minutes."

"Go Kirito!" cheered Lizbeth. "Show her what Aincrad's made of!"

"You can do it!" shouted Silica. "Avenge me!"

"Pal," Klein spoke up. "If you get killed by this babe, can inherit your harem?"

Kirito could only facepalm. "Don't worry, bro, I won't die," he muttered.

"Kirito-kun," said Asuna uneasily. "I gotta log out."

_"Eh?"_ he blurted staggering in midair. "Well, thanks for the support," he finally muttered in frustration.

"Well, uh, my body monitor menu notified me with multiple issues. I-I gotta go to the toilet, and, my blood nutrient levels are low, and..." She whispered to Leafa. "I have my period."

"Curse real life," sighed Leafa.

"I'm just going to eat my greens. Be back," Asuna finally said, disappearing as she quit the game.

"Hahh," said Kirito. "Always a good girl with her veggies." He straightened up and addressed everybody. "People," he declared in the most unnaturally self-important booming voice he could muster, "I appreciate all the adulation you offer me. Rest assured that your hero will not fall so easily. I will continue to uphold all of your aspirations and fulfill your loftiest intents. What do you say?"

"Onii-chan!" shouted Leafa, "Look out!"

By sheer dint of reflex Kirito narrowly dodged a wildly spinning object that chopped off the tip of his wing. The object boomeranged back to the ground where Sinon caught the handle of the scythe with one hand.

"You know what!" she yelled. "I think I could better target you that way! _Yaaahhh!" _She threw him another one.

It would have been simple to evade a hurtling projectile in mid-air, as there was greater space and flight was faster than running, but Sinon knew this already so she kept throwing her scythe in random directions all close to him in a bid to confuse him into getting hit. Kirito, however, did manage for a while, until he eventually got disoriented and had to stay put.

"Onii-chan!" cried Leafa even as the rest were on edge.

Sinon sported a big grin. She smelled the roses already.

She threw her next one straight at him. He was already unmoving. She was sure he was a ripe peach waiting to be picked off by her scythe.

She did not reckon on him well enough. Kirito brandished his black sword and made it the largest he could manage, then gripped it two-handed as with a baseball bat, then posed to make a big swing of it…

He hit the spinning blade!

The scythe spun off in another direction, certainly not back to Sinon. It fell into a lake with splash.

Kirito rushed down to a stunned Sinon , the tip of his sword right ahead of him. She stared in horror as she was paralyzed with disbelief and fright.

_Whoosh._

The sword stopped right before it touched her neck.

She gritted her teeth in bitter defeat. "Just because I have no guns…"

"Sorry, honey. This is Alfheim."

* * *

Kirigaya Kazuto logged out of his NerveGear after his menu indicated that he needed to eat as well.

He woke up in a dark room and kept lying there for about ten minutes, deciding whether it was too early for him to go back to the real world. There was really hardly anything to do for him here. Not even TV or net; the broadcast and pages always showed him the same tired news of the same horribly tired world. He had long since determined that the only things worth turning on in this room were the NerveGear and the light.

Not even a refrigerator was needed. His only food were these boxes of bland veggie flakes, the same 'greens' that Asuna mentioned earlier. These usually kept well as they were simply dry crackers. Come to think of it, he was so into the virtual realm that it hardly mattered to him if all he had in this world were these veggies, day in and day out.

He got up and turned on the single light in the room. He didn't even care much about the room: a drab affair of bare plankboard walls and floor, windows completely plastered with old rockstar posters. The airconditioning had long since broken down; it took him a while to discover that his bedsheets, and himself as well, were mucky with half-dried sweat.

He dumped his laundry into a plastic bag which he then tied and pushed through the chute of his door, the same chute through which the greens were delivered to him as ordered for him by his uncle (wherever he is), but now, only one box was left. Now this was generally troublesome to him as the supply was quite variable. There tended to be a lot whenever there was a delivery, but these days it wasn't very often, weekly or twice weekly at the most.

He decided to check his weight at the bathroom scale in the toilet. Fifty kilos (about a hundred and ten pounds). That meant he had to eat pretty soon even if he did nothing but lie around all day with the NerveGear.

He sat on the bowl seeing if he would excrete any pent-up waste but there was only a little.

Having eaten his fill, he turned off the light again and lay down strapping the Gear onto his head. It took about fifteen minutes to boot and he spent the time thinking again of this world he was leaving. There was actually little to think about it, save if it was worth thinking of at all.

* * *

"OK guys," Sinon explained as the team prepared to assault to castle. "According to my database and some info from Yui here, our enemy was something revived from an earlier tournament and had a record of 47 kills in one round. Now that looks like a terrifying stat, but it was more of player incompetence than any skill on the part of the boss.

"I just discovered a group of about fifty attempted to overwhelm the boss with numbers with a single all-out charge, seeing that it was quite large, but it took down 32 in one swoop, and then the rest got terrified and attempted a hasty escape. Fifteen more were killed in the ensuing disorder.

"It is clear that the enemy has a multiple strike weapon. Much like a 50 cal. But since you have no guns in here, I have no idea what weapon it might be using so we'll have to find out.

Asuna commented further. "The boss used size as a ploy to lure teams into group attacks. To be sure, it won't be feasible for one to try taking down a boss that big, but he or she can survive it for some time."

"So that means," said Sinon, "we must attack one at a time. One will poke around with the boss to know the patterns of attack, and any particular weakness. Who wants to be the probe?"

"Aye," Leafa volunteered. "If it's surviving a boss, I could bank on speed."

"Um… yeah…?" agreed Sinon off-handedly. "But Yui says if any of us dies in this fight, he or she must go back twenty-five floors."

Leafa suddenly gulped. High stakes can sure take a lot of shine off of a fight.

"We can't put up with that!" complained Lizbeth. "That means if one or two of us get sacrificed all of us remaining here will have to wait for them beat _twenty-five floors?_ And pass through that damned _Floor 56?_ That's insane!"

"Simple," said Klein. "All of us will let himself get killed so the whole team goes back 25 floors. No one will have to wait!"

It earned a knock on the head from Liz. "Bright idea, airhead."

"Leafa," instructed Sinon. "You and Silica will fly around and try to confuse the boss. Klein and I will wear him down with arrow attacks from a distance. Asuna will be in charge of all the healing and Yui will study the boss. If any weak spot is discovered, Kirito here will rush in for the kill. All of this must be done within… let's see… twenty minutes. Any later than that and the boss could formulate a general strategy against all of us. Am I clear?"

Everybody nodded silently, aware of the risks involved.

* * *

Having cleared the hallway of all minions, the team arrived at the giant doors of the great throne-room where sat the boss. "Who dares challenge the Mighty Drakkon?" boomed a voice.

"Who dares think up a cheesy script that requires a player to hear it before proceeding?" complained Sinon. "Just get us in already!"

Kirito spoke up. "I am Kirito. I dare to slay the Mighty Drakkon and gain the Blue Crystal of Eternal Power. I accept all your challenges."

The doors opened with a loud creak (as all mysterious large doors are wont to do) and they all went in. As soon as they did, the doors once again closed with the same stock audio creak, sealing off any chance of cowardly escape. Now the only choices are to beat the boss or get killed trying.

The floor shook and everybody tumbled and groped for balance while the boss emerged forcibly from the floor like droppings from a constipated bird, or constipated anyone, really. The boss was a skeletal minotaur, but what was noticeable were the bristling spines protruding from its back, moving like tentacles and ready strike at slightest buzz of a fly. The 'multiple strike weapon' now became glaringly obvious to Sinon, who was seized by a sudden fit of terror.

"Everybody watch out!"

One spine shot forward with eye-blinking speed, heading straight for Kirito! It _struck _him right in the belly. A one-hit kill! Kirito's field of vision immediately blurred and whited out, and then finally blacked out.

YOU ARE DEAD.

_What...?_

_That was fast._

"..."

In the darkness, he heard something, but he wasn't that sure if it was a voice. The dark was so thick and blinding it could have only been his own thinking. But will a mere figment of thought echo so clearly?

_Please._

_You don't stand a chance._

_If you could lose now, who knows what Kayaba will do to you in the tournament?_

_Please, quit__ the tournament. Save yourself._


	2. Game Master

Kirito lay in a familiar bed.

Before him lay a ceiling, but this was not the dreary affair of his own room back in the outside world. It was made of virtual plankboard that had the fine grain and refreshing aroma of the most natural pinewood. This was the cabin he, Asuna, and Yui purchased to be their home in Alfheim. He spied a menu bar above him filling up: 85... 86... 87%... He was healing? What happened? Well, he could dimly remember blacking out, and... something else... something telling him to quit. Quit what?

He took the time to re-orient himself. From the window he saw that the weather was cloudy. Yui was sleeping against his shoulder, and so was Asuna by the bedside. About two minutes later, the others came in: Klein, the new male recruit, Silica the kid, Leafa... Lizbeth... and that jock Sinon. But they were only background. Foremost in his mind at the moment was that faint but nagging bit of thought that told him to quit.

If ever he was going to quit, it certainly won't be the game. Not Alfheim. There was nothing to return to IRL.

Finally, Asuna stirred and got up. "Kirito-kun..." she said smiling sheepishly. She took his hand and felt it around as if to see if it had a pulse. Well, it was warm... "Your recovery. It's going pretty well now."

"You wouldn't even start healing when we picked you up," said Lizbeth. "Your damage was too hard."

_Oh. So I was killed? _"We had a fight, didn't we?" was all he could say.

"Healing is not really the word," said Sinon. "You were _dead. _I just had, um, who's she again? Ah, yes... Leafa here, she poured that revival potion-thing on you within the ten-second timeframe. Phew! That boss was a total cheat. I can't believe a game that can actually be idiotic exists, at least not a VR one."

"Onii-chan," said Leafa. "I'm so glad."

Yui woke up and instantly fired up seeing her dad well. "Papa!" Kiss.

"Wait, wait, wait," Sinon interrupted. "I'm still sayin' something. You don't drown me out when I'm saying something. It's that boss. We should have all known that it's going real low. He made a decapitation strike outright. It struck our ace right on the fly before anything!"

The others stared blankly at her. "Well," said Liz, "it's actually allowed, to be sure. There aren't any rules against going for the strongest party member if you could."

"Yeah, yeah, right," Sinon replied irritably. "But you see, it should have played for a bit with our vanguards. It _shouldn't _go straight for our core. It's not... it's not normal."

"Hon," said Klein, "you don't actually expect this to be a sentai show where the fights are scripted."

"Arrrgh! No! I can't take it! I hate it when something does not go according to plan! We have a plan. That monster guy should've played along according to plan! Drat!"

"Wait," said Kirito, still a bit groggy. "You mean I got killed? Then why are we here? We defeated the enemy?"

"I switched to guns and blasted the innards out of that thing. I had to do it. It cheated, so I don't see why I shouldn't."

"Like I said..." But Liz desisted. There's no use hashing out an explanation twice. "Kirito-kun just said magic spells shoot like guns."

"No way. Nothing in this world can beat something that strong, that fast, and that _low. _See, a boxer can win even if he's a weakie, so long as he got tricks, but that one got both tricks and-"

"I'm sorry, guys," lamented Kirito. "I became such a bother to you all. I..." Everybody stared at him in sympathy and Leafa plaintively shook her head in disagreement. "I wanted to take that gem so we could all power up. I don't know." He looked at his open palms, kind of expecting to see some answer there. "Have I become too dependent on items? Maybe my skills have lapsed so far that I had to insist on power-ups. Tch... How will we even survive?"

Asuna took his hand and squeezed it endearingly. "It does not matter, Kirito-kun. We will beat the tournament. All we need is each other."

Lizbeth was nearly overcome with tears at the touching scene. "Asuna's right. We're the best. Together we can do anything!"

Silica took her hand and Leafa's. "Hooray for our team! Hooray for Aincrad! Hooray for all that is good! Glory and victory!"

"Wow," said Sinon flatly. "Talk about summoning me here. If all you need to beat bosses are yourselves you should have just brought the Care Bears in here. Oh, well. It's a fantasy world out there in here, anyway."

"Shut up, two-face," retorted Silica.

"We all believe in you, Kirito," comforted Asuna. "It's only a setback. I know your skills have never deteriorated. We have all been watching you, you know, and we are all still amazed at you."

Yui pressed herself against Daddy's cheek. "Yui is all Dad needs."

Sinon sighed in frustration and turned to leave. "Power of Friendship, indeed," she muttered. Calling back. "You contact me as soon as the Tournament's up, you hear? I will check on background data when we get there and you will observe everything in the field. I'm just going back to the station and cheer up the world. I got a new partner with me in my morning program, see?"

* * *

That day, the world of Alfheim was confronted with an apparition.

Against the sky of Aincrad loomed the spectral avatar of Akihiko Kayaba. The robed and hooded figure was clad in resplendent white silk rimmed with sparkling gold and blue thread. It had no face; only that same background of sky was framed by the hood. It towered almost to the very tip of Aincrad.

"A pleasant day to all," announced Kayaba in an echoing voice that sent a faint chill all throughout Alfheim. "It pleases me to see so many valiant warriors. I can tell that your bravery has served you well and brought you down to this fateful day."

Kayaba had such a presence it hushed everybody. The fact that he was Game Master certainly didn't hurt.

"I have seen your deeds of daring and determination, even amidst such great loss. You fully deserve every measure of glory the world of Aincrad could ever bestow on you."

This time, a muffled resentment, or at least reserve, furtively spread among a number of players. Daring and glory and valor meant little in the face of 'great loss' : Several have lost all of their teammates in the last Tournament, never to hear from them again, and were now wandering around as orphans seeking guilds.

Kirito's team was watching in subdued awe when Sinon materialized behind them, surprising Leafa. "When did you get here?"

"Oh, ages ago," she replied snarkily. "If you saw me log in just now, it actually took two years. Stupid connection, as usual."

"I thought you'd be busy."

"I was tracking ALO over the net at the station. Never underestimate a DJ's free time." When Kayaba spoke again, she was vaguely thrilled. "Ooh. 'Diviiiiiiine!' So he worked for Candy Crush?"

"I am glad to announce that the 18th Tournament will commence tomorrow at the ninth hour. To reward your heroism, I declare that everyone who triumphs in this battle... Will advance _ten floors,_ all counters _restored and full!"_

Whatever grumbling that hung in the air was now instantly and completely dispelled by a great uproar of wild cheering. Ten floors. Until now ten floors always meant ten floors _back._ It has always represented a loss, a punishment for failure. Each floor represented a complete investment in all the basic potions and items. Kayaba's offer was a such a total reversal, ten floors up and a refill of counters, that it became irresistible.

"Sinon," said Kirito, "do you find anything familiar with him?"

"Nuh-uh. But he's big. If I was a game dev I will never make a simple guide that big."

"All right!" yelled Klein. "Jock. You got new weapons, power-ups, cheats? Let's go and bash that cloud-faced twat, right now!"

Lizbeth facepalmed. "He's not a boss, dimwit."

"Of course," continued the game master, "great rewards come only with supreme challenge. However, in this match I will allow you to take full advantage of your speed and agility. It will be an air battle. I also promise this will be much shorter than all previous Tournaments."

Such was the merrymaking over the good news that it lasted well into the next day, the day of the Tournament itself. The morning was spent in partying and bragfests, but at the crack of noon, everybody were silent as they arrived at the venue, though there remained a highly excited tension as everybody spread their pixie wings. A seaside cliff topped by forest. The entire length of the top of the precipice was thick with players sheltering in the woods, facing the vast virtual ocean that gleamed under the pixellated afternoon sun. Only the trigger-nut newbie jock remained unimpressed, though she did allow herself her calculated sniper's patience.

"Hey, Kirito-kun," she said. "How exactly does this Tournament play out?"

"Each team chooses a window or door of a dungeon or fortress, into which they battle lesser enemies. At the end of hall, they enter the room where their boss awaits them."

"One boss per team, eh? Much like GGO, 'cept it's a duel." Yawn. "But I don't see no dungeon." She allowed herself the indulgence of scratching her armpits. "Maybe it will, um, rise out of the sea or something?"

"Come to think," Leafa suddenly mused, "game master used to fire off some last-minute info or instructions. But now I'm not even sure where we should fly to. We're not even in Aincrad."

As though taking a cue, Klein stood up, to the consternation of everybody, and yelled at the heavens. "Yo, Kaybs! Are ya going to make us dive? You said this will be an air match!"

Everyone was scandalized. It was by now an unwritten rule that no one openly questioned the Game Master. They were all expecting him to get disqualified, but much to their astonishment came the voice.

"Prepare for a multiple boss fight. Fly across the sea to victory!"

A fresh wave of wild cheering swept across the crowd, hearing that single reassuring mention of victory from Kayaba himself. But Asuna had her reservations. _He suddenly injected decisive info. If we knew the type of battle beforehand, we should have had at least half a day's planning. And filling the counters _after _a fight? What kind of sense is that?_

"Yui!" snapped Sinon. At once, the pixie flew and landed on top of the jock's head, whereupon they both closed their eyes in electronic meditation, together hacking to ferret out anything of use. Kirito felt he should do some reflection of his own; maybe he should review some of his techniques... But all he could recall was that disembodied voice. Bashing the Tournament.

A deep sense of dread clutched at him.

Of all things! _Fear_ was the last thing a warrior needed right before a battle.

"Kirito!" Sinon was suddenly awake. Her wide eyes and gritting teeth did nothing to support Kirito's flagging resolve. Yui looked even more terriifed. "I know where your bosses are!"

Right then, the trumpet sounded all throughout Alfheim. The enthusiastic clamor of the crowd answered, and as one, they all took to the air. It was definitely a sight: so many colors and shimmering wings, like a massive balloon party.

His team's reservations were completely flushed away by the excitement. Leafa stood up and spread her wings. "It's time!"

_"No!"_

"Wha?" Everybody turned to Kirito irritably. "Onii-chan, if we don't move now, our progress will be slowed down later by everybody!"

"No. Look," he said pointing in the direction of the sea.

But all Leafa could see was the balloon party. Everybody was already having a great time. Except for a few who fell-

No, vanished.

More and more players were being picked off, pulled down in a whoosh. The team's gaze followed where they were going, and then they saw. The players were being sucked into _open mouths, _those of scores of monstrous giant frogs rearing their ghastly heads out of the water. They were all stunned. Kirito managed to recall a certain class discussion back when he was in middle school, when the schools were still running year-round:

_... and then comes the mating season for these termites. In the spring, males and females capable of reproduction grow wings and fly en masse out of their old hive-nest to establish new colonies. Of course, mating season is a time of wondrous feasting for all sorts of amphibians and reptiles. Bats and birds, too..._

Leafa watched in horror as one particularly huge monster toad, like some demon whale, emerged out of the sea and, in one flick, ensnared hundreds of players all along the length of it's tongue. It pulled all of them down into its mouth with a sound akin to that of the howl of a hurricane gust, which then snapped shut with an earth-shaking clap. A look of relish contorted its already reprehensible face. She clutched her head and whimpered.

_... These hunters gather at the foot of the nest waiting, some even days before. But all their trouble pays off when the banquet comes. The weak and unfit are culled out of the termite ranks. Those that survive and land in a safe, secluded spot pair off and perform a courtship dance. Then they mate and go off to build a new nest._

_This, children, is what you should remember when the time comes for you to take the university test. Even now I can tell which of you will survive, and who is not meant for success..._

Success, huh? mused Kirito ruefully. Succeed in a rotten world? No, thanks.

The great flying mass of players, which before set out resolutely toward a nonexistent destination across the sea, now started to spin around, and finally devolve into a confused cloud of panic. _Exactly like moths crowding frenziedly around a lamp. _This seemed to elicit a stronger appetite to the monster frogs, which began leaping clear into the air to catch players directly with the mouth. More whale-toads peeked above the water and launched shot after shot of tongue, reaping an abundant harvest.

"It's no use," declared Kirito. "Let's get out of here."

"No," said Lizbeth. "We have the time. We can plan in here. Like... Let's... We can just fly higher! I think..."

"We need to advance, Kirito-kun," said Asuna sadly. "We could at least do all of our comrades justice."

Which he would have typically agreed to, but that voice kept gnawing at him. _Quit the tournament. Save yourself! _Why was it so particular about this? _Why is my heart beating faster? I shouldn't be this tense. What exactly happens if I die here? Why do I hold myself from knowing?_

Just then, the forest shook. What? Everybody turned behind them and poised to attack, when a something lightning fast went straight... for Sinon! She quickly took her most high-powered pistol and shot the beast over and over, halting it. It turned out to be a giant... snake? But there was no head. The long writhing thing could only be a giant tongue.

"Everybody!" she shouted desperately. "Take cover!" The duel kept up for a while, each strike of the tongue parried by a well-placed shot. But this was getting nowhere. "What are you waiting for?!" But the team was paralyzed with shock. Besides, where would they turn to? Going away from the tongue meant falling into the ocean.

The tongue angled up like a giant cobra. What was it up to? The answer was not long in coming: The forest behind shook as if by a strong gale, as if a mounting wave was rushing closer to them. The wave terminated at the tip of that tongue, unleashing a whiplash so strong it sent forth a powerful shock wave that threw the gun clear out of Sinon's grasp. She fell to the ground writhing in pain from the loud clap, but still forcing herself to recover.

The tongue caught her by the waist. It's over now. "Kirito!" she called out. She fought to keep her ground clawing at rocks, then finally clinging to a tree trunk. This could not possibly end well. If only the tongue caught her leg, she might have suffered herself to lose a limb. "Kirito, stop spacing out! your team needs you!" The tree itself was quickly uprooted, and both that and its hapless cargo were pulled back into the depths of the forest.

Next, the forest shook again, but now stronger. More than a tongue was emerging out of the trees. The great frog pushed all these obstacles aside crawling on its feet. It didn't have to jump. Its prey was unmoving.

That's it!

"Team," said Kirito reassuringly. "Stay put. We will be eaten much faster if we're out in the open. You saw what just happened out there at sea."

"But Kirito," complained Liz. "We _are _in the open. Hello? Your schtick could have worked if we were in a hole or something."

He only brushed aside her protest by brandishing his large black sword. What could it possibly do? everybody must be thinking. It probably can't hack away at such a large mass fast enough. This was no flower beast. "Everybody form a line behind me!"

"Great," whined Silica, but the situation was tense enough for them to comply. "We'll be eaten in turn. An orderly way to die."

"Hey girls," seconded Liz, "fall in line for the kissing booth! Only, why is it the frog that kisses us? I imagine it must be easier to kiss the frog. A bit."

"We're going to pull a stunt, duh!" said Klein who was right behind her.

"Wrong," said Kirito motioning to the frog. _"He's _pulling the stunt for us."

"Wahhh," replied Klein. _"Pulling us _a stunt? As in _pulling us? _Man, you're no longer my friend."

But Kirito was ready. As soon as the tongue shot forth, he turned the sharp edge of his blade towards it. The results are quite predictable. Kudos to Kirito for keeping his wits about him when all the rest have freaked out.

When it was over, two strips of viscera lay on each side of the team thrashing about helplessly like an earthworm in salt. But wait, the frog, unwilling to admit defeat, shook violently and finally vomited the rest of its innards- stomach, liver, guts- throwing it all at Kirito in a futile attempt to catch him with literally everything it's got. The only thing it achieved was grossing the team out.

Its eyes rolled about and its body convulsed before shattering into fragments.

A number of them have fainted, Asuna, Leafa, Silica. The mind can only take so much disgust at a time.

Kirito surveyed the damage. Too bad. If only the program allowed for it, Sinon shouldn't have died by fragmenting immediately in the frog's belly, or she could have been discharged along with the squicky stuff. That's one bright asset down. By that alone, he surmised maybe it was the bad guys who won in long run.

Yui rushed to her Dad and hugged his neck crying. "Papa. I'm so glad you're safe." Being an AI, she probably didn't have the capacity to be grossed out. But Liz has just finished vomiting. Human experiences could be such a burden in VR.

"Haahhh!" she said, relieved. "Kirito, I hope we could afford some planning next time. Like, how to finish a fight with a clean cut?" She looked herself over. "W-Wait, why am I wearing pixels? Are my clohes pixellated? Is something wrong with the program?" She turned to look at Klein hoping for an answer. She got one. He was beet-red, covering his mouth with both hands in embarrassment.

And then she knew.

_Slap._

* * *

The next day Kayaba congratulated all the survivors over VR stream TV. Not that many, it turns out. Fully 68% of all ALO players have been killed in that one match. The atmosphere in the cafe was a very heavy one, outweighing the ten floors everybody got. Everyone in the cafe talked in hushed voices at most. Even the bereaved.

"Onee-chan..." sobbed a little girl player, for a guildmate she was very close with, who shielded her from harm that fateful afternoon. Asuna and Silica flanked the poor child, offering their comforts.

"Don't worry," consoled Silica. "We will find her again."

"That was pretty bright of you," remarked Klein (still with that faintly glowing handprint on his right cheek) to a player who managed to kill a frog. Just one. And then damaging another, but all at a cost. "We should have just thought nothing of it if it meant a choice between all counters filled and game over."

"Are you insane?" said Lizbeth. "He's got a full complement of magic spells. Though I must say emptying it all for that one match was a great calculation. As for us, did we even have anything? If only we had that blue crystal. Then we didn't have to grovel in a desperation tactic with this brute right behind me."

"Hey, is it my fault? I was panicking so I didn't see who's in front of me. Though I did wish I ended up behind Leafa that time."

Slap.

"Well," he said with a little smile, "I guess two's a tandem." Both cheeks were glowing now.

"Guys," announced Kirito. "I am alarmed at everything that happened lately. These tourneys seem to get more and more vicious. Probably we need to spend our time crafting an entirely new strategy. I'm afraid we need to completely alter our thinking in battle."

"Come on," said the surviving player nervously to Kirito. "You're going to pull all of us down giving us the creeps." Others were staring at their team from all over the cafe. It was already common knowledge that theirs was the only team remaining intact (save Sinon, but she had been an interloper) and the only team to kill a frog, without even magic. Hearing the ace of Alfheim speaking of being alarmed demoralized everybody.

"I'm sorry, people. But we shouldn't rely on theatrics and heroics now. Or on putting all your hopes on individuals who won't be able to save you all." His eyes scanned the throng to try seeing if they accepted or understood what he was saying. "When I said we must alter our thinking and strategy, I meant it. We don't need bluffs and stunts, but substance."

"You're quite right there," said a voice.

To his surprise, a number of people appeared from all corners of the cafe and approached him. Guild leaders. His own team looked on in guarded amazement trying to read their intentions. One man took the lead and spoke to Kirito. "I think we need to talk."


	3. The Grave Laughs at You

Kirito woke up in his room feeling somewhat at ease. Back in Aincrad, things were already up and moving, although where all that was headed for remained as yet unclear. The guild leaders have been quite accomodating. He had just communicated his intention to reform basic strategy. When asked what form the new game plan would take, however, all he could mention was a tentative reference to 'cooperation,' or something. That seemed to be enough for them and they retired for the day looking satisfied, saying they would discuss a bit further among themselves and return for another round of talks with him.

It gave him a fuzzy warmth inside. That sense of importance from being consulted by guild elders. No amount of ace stunts ever led to this. Anyone could pull off a feat in VR.

He pulled himself out of bed, doffed the NerveGear, and turned the light on. To his mild surprise, a fresh batch of veggie flakes lay at the door. Four boxes. He wasn't that hungry at the moment so he only had to help himself with half a box. The rest would keep well into the weekend.

He showered and brushed, drawing from a tap line that led to the apartment's common tank. Uncle was very particular about his water expenses. He only spent about half hour with the whole process, and when he was done, putting on a fresh change of clothes, finally strapped the Gear on again, feeling supremely refreshed in ages. Hopefully the good mood would translate itself into further progress with the ALO talks.

As the link was starting, he decided that cooperation is indeed the only way for them to survive.

* * *

"Come on, Mama, hurry up!"

Yui happily flitted around Asuna as the girl playfully chased her adoptive daughter. The pixie would come just within reach everytime, but her agility made her nigh impossible to catch by hand. "Hahahah! Mama, you're so slow!"

"Wait till I get my hands on you," Mama said panting in glee. "I will smooch you silly till you turn blue."

It was that time when Kirito and company take a well-earned time-out at the resthouse. Silica is also chasing Pina, Liz and Leafa are doing badminton (mundane, to be sure, but that's how much they want to get off of their magical workload for now), Klein is bodybuilding, whatever buildup that actually makes with virtual muscles, and Kirito is doing what does best: lying on the roof half-napping.

Asuna and Yui arrive there on wings and take their places on both sides of Kirito. They snuggle up to him and feel him.

Since the last Tournament has just ended, it could well take some time before the next comes, so everything's fine and idyllic in Alfheim. Even the soft background flute music was playing again, though it was a few days before it did. But right now, today is theirs.

"Honey," said Asuna, "Shouldn't we rest inside? We got three bedrooms."

"This is actually my favorite part of the house. Come on, Asuna, isn't it great to be close to nature?"

Laugh. "You actually think this place is nature?" But she dropped off the question and pressed herself against him once more. "Say, Kirito, do you think I can grow orchids in this game?"

"There's a gardening mini-game in here somewheres. And why do you have to settle for orchids? We got snapdragons. You can even train them."

"No, no. I want to recreate the garden my grandparents had in Miyagi, you know, way back, when I was... seven, I think?"

"Would they have real-world flowers in here?"

A shadow momentarily fell on Asuna's expression, but she then dismissed it. "Never mind. I guess what matters is me, you, and Yui."

Kirito suddenly got up and inched his smiling face very close to his girl's. She was alarmed at first, then blushing. "K-Kirito! Cut it out. You're being silly." Then she returned the stare, and smiled.

"Ohhhh..." The rest of the team has just arrived and joined them on the rooftop. "What kind of business are you having here over our noses?" Laugh. Lizbeth nudged an elbow into Kirito's side. "You better shape up, loverboy, I heard Klein here wants to impress your Asuna with his new abs."

He only laughed it off. "Oh, so you've seen it? I think _you're _the first to be impressed."

"Wha-" She wasn't expecting to blush. So what if she saw a neat six-pack? You don't get a lot of these in ALO. She tried to stave off everybody's laughter, and it didn't help that Klein already took off his shirt and standing in front of the girl with a wide grin. "Hey! Enough!"

It is said that a day in Aincrad feels like twice as long as a day IRL. Good for them.

* * *

This time more elders sat down with Kirito's team. They had to move to a larger venue, at a courtyard around a bonfire under the simulated evening sky. As soon as the twin evening stars shone, the meeting began in earnest.

"Kirito-san," said the leader of the Midnight Foxes. "We realize that some form of concerted effort is in order for us to survive the next Tournaments. It wasn't lost on us that Kayaba is putting us on a steeper and steeper curve. Maybe the game master wants us to show something different every time. However, all of us knows that each team has its own interest in winning..."

"Can't we just all finish?" said Kirito. "It's not against the rules. Nothing says that only one must remain."

"Not everyone believes as you do. You overlook the fact that players are being ranked all the time. I understand your and your pals might only be playing for fun, but then, you are vying to top Aincrad, too, do you not?"

"Topping Aincrad is just part of the fun. Shoji-san, we can't insist on rankings when the very survival of all of us are at stake. If all of us must form a single team even momentarily, all of us will gain."

"All of us will gain," sneered someone at the back. Spit. " 'Gain' and 'all' are not meant for each other."

A few heads turned but it was somewhat faint so Kirito and the elders simply dismissed it. "Maybe we can choose Kirito-san's team to represent all of us, and the rest can provide some sort of support," the leader of Shining Armor Club said. "We could all arrange a bargain on sharing rewards, or probably we'll distribute points among members according to what he has contributed to the effort."

"Aren't you also promoting a ranking system?" Kirito noted. "People will compete for how much they have done and use that to lord it over the others. Perhaps we should just assign exactly one task for each individual according to his or her abilities. We could work this out."

"So you'll all relegate us to the background while your team gets the spotlight?" complained a lead member of Hexagon, who only had three of them left. "It's so easy for you to say that since you're already nominated by Shining Armor for the lead."

SAC spoke up in defense. "Mizuki. There's a reason I said that. Everyone here knows that-"

"Yeah, yeah, right! Pulling a performance in one Tournament does not guarantee victory in another."

Kirito couldn't help but silently agree.

"Also," she continued, "Kayaba's making it harder and harder for us, right? The next Tournament will be a hundred times worse."

"Maybe," commented yet another leader, "We should just let one team target a specific body part of the boss."

"A boss isn't inanimate for us to pull that off effectively," said the Midnight Foxes leader. "We could end up overlapping tasks in the heat of battle. It's really imperative that only one team attacks to make the work quicker and simpler."

The guy at the back intervened again. "So this whole schmuck's set up for Master Kirito-sama, eh?" Dry laugh. "Hey, guys! they're not the only players in here." He finally stood up and walked to the middle of the crowd to the dismay of the guild elders. Addressing the crowd, "All right, everybody, I know we all have our pride. We just can't let one team take away everything that could have been ours. Are you going to let all of your stats and abilities spill away unused? I know there are quite a few of you who are expanded agility types. Some are strength-and-energy masters. Others," This pointing directly at the SAC leader, "are good ferrets and would want to hack a thing or two from allying with Kirito-sama." Everyone turned to look at SAC, who has gone red in consternation. A murmuring arose here and there. "I say! Let those teams with real guts stand up now and send their best representatives to beat each other. The ultimate survivor will lead us all."

The crowd hushed. Nobody seemed to take him up on the offer. The elders shifted nervously in their seats and were ready to dismiss the meeting for the day to flush out the malcontent in the air. The Midnight Foxes leader stood up.

And so did a number of others.

The people who were mentioned as 'agility' and 'strength-energy' types, and several others who could well hold their own in their own way stood out in a vast sea of silence. Kirito watched in dismay as Alfheim lapsed back into competition mode. Back guy's offer was a most attractive setup. Now he can't hold back from grinning.

"So, my dear assembly of elders, do you all agree?"

* * *

They did.

Curiously, though, back guy held back and waited among the audience watching as the contestants dished it out. An elder served as referee to keep each fight from getting out of hand. This was one yawn-inducing feature for back guy. A lot of people have already died, anyway. For sure _he's _not holding back once he steps on that platform.

He was most interested in Kirito. He was winning all his fights, so far.

At the moment he was facing another expert swordsman. They were well-matched. Everybody in the crowd saw moves no one has seen before, parrying and parrying, striking and striking, dodging, acrobatics. All it took to lose were three wounds. The opponent had one, Kirito two.

The other swordsman decided this was the best time to be aggressive. He unleashed a storm of thrusts that Kirito kept dodging. He leaped back, knowing he can hardly sustain that without getting that finishing wound. The enemy taunted. "What? Are you willing to surrender now? Give yourself a cut and make it easy for the both of us."

Kirito smirked.

He started to run round and round the ring, making the enemy's head spin around. This kept up for quite a while, until a number of people were already cheering, whether in anticipation for some secret power move, or taunting Kirito for cowardice. The cheering grew louder and louder, Kirito still going round and round, and all it did was make the enemy madder.

_"Referee!"_ the man screamed. "This blankety-blank's evading me!"

Just then, Kirito slipped.

He lay there helplessly on his face. The crowd now roared. They now awaited a dramatic downfall. The enemy would slice him down now. Indeed, a relishing grin grew on the face of the man (and of back guy). The swordsman approached Kirito swinging his blade with gusto.

"Sothpeak!" called out the referee. "You may cut as deep a wound as you like, just don't make it fatal!"

The man only spat in response. He knows what he's doing. Cut a deep wound was indeed what he intended to do.

He turned over Kirito with a rough shove of the foot and eyed his arm sprawled on the pavement. He kicked Kirito's black sword away from him, off the ring, and raised his own high above him. He's not going to wound the arm, after all, he's _amputating _it.

Kick.

Swordsman let his sword fall as he doubled over in pain. Kirito had just struck his midsection. That was all he could manage, being quite exhausted by now. He groveled up, felt for the guy's sword while he was busy writhing on the ground.

One. Two. A pair of clean cuts on the back.

Kirito staggered to stand upright and then waved at the crowd acknowledging their uproarious acclaim. Not everyone was happy, though. Back guy rushed to the ring and jumped onto it, and beat Kirito in the back with a two-handed punch. A number of players went onstage to stop the guy but he wielded his blade and pointed it at Kirito. "One step, and he's done! This fight isn't over! Let me beat him and let Aincrad know and acknowledge who truly the best!"

"You can't do that! Your enemy's exhausted, and even unarmed."

It only elicited a contemptuous spit from back guy who then used his blase to fling Kirito's sword back to him. After the latter managed to get up with the sword, he said, "Look! Kirito-sama isn't tired!" To Kirito, "Come on, master, let me have the privilege of _fighting you!" _He launched himself into an all out attack, hacking madly and being staved off only by Kirito's weak parrying.

"Stop!" rebuked the elders futilely.

Back guy only responded by amping up his rage. Kirito's grasp started to further weaken from exertion, and the enemy was able to land wound after wound on his arms.

"He's trying to kill Onii-chan!" cried Leafa. The team immediately spread out around the stage and leapt onto the ring around the enemy from all corners, aiming arrows. He only sneered at them and ignored them, focusing on what mattered to him... but as he was about to strike Kirito again, one of Silica's darts landed on him. Trying to ignore it again, he kept up his pummeling Kirito but each attempt to strike was met with an arrow shot. One landed on his hand. Enraged, he turned on his attackers, but was being stopped by more arrows. The paralysis effect of these made him slump onto the floor like a sack of wet sand.

"Phew!" said Lizbeth. "I guess it's all over."

Leafa and Asuna rushed over to help Kirito up while Klein, Silica, and Liz went to the limp enemy to apprehend him but suddenly a masked and caped figure descended on the scene and took the body, brandishing a dagger.

"Do not dare stand against true power!" he declared in a booming voice to everybody's shock. "From here on, no one will stop us. No one will survive us! Remember the name I and my comrade share: _Laughing Coffin!"_

An explosion rocked the stage and threw everyone onto their feet. When they have recovered, they were horrified to see the air thick with glowing fragments, a sure a sign that many have been killed. Whether they went back ten floors, or all the way down to the first floor was unclear. What they all knew was they cannot afford this happening in a Tournament.

The masked man and his charge were also gone.

"What was that about?" said Klein getting up. "Don't tell me-"

The look on everyone's faces confirmed his concerns. They were all standing glumly, staring after the pieces, until they diminished, then completely vanished, and even for a good while after.

"I'm very sorry," Asuna said bitterly.

Alfheim had always been a happy and sprightly game from Floor One, the biggest reason why so many flocked to its VR world. However, from the time the last player left Floor 18, ALO started, subtly at first, to take on the characteristics of a professional contest. And from Floor 40, that contest became more and more serious.

After the great massacre at sea, they just had to suffer a _PK guild._

The next Tournament looks very bleak, indeed.

* * *

The team sat in tension at the cafe as reports of ambushes and such flickered over livestream. Only Silica, busily petting Pina, was at the moment carefree and unspoiled. And Klein... he was trying to, at least.

"Hey, guys," he said serving a tray of virtual tacos. "You haven't been eating up since yesterday morning. Let those Laughing Aquarium guys take care of themselves. Here," he said offering one to Asuna.

"No, thank you. Please keep it for later." Yui was asleep. Asuna kind of envied the sprite. The AI does not have a complete grasp of the problems of humanity. Only big enough problems, like actual harm to her immediate team, rattled her. She'd rather her adoptive daughter stayed that way.

"Come on, guys," said Silica from a corner. "we got many more killers in the real world. What can they do to you? I'd rather I go back to Floor One if only they weren't too scary up close."

"Silky," said Leafa, "no matter what floor you're in, you'll have to fight in a Tournament. And what if the dead were sent back to, you know, Floor 36?"

Silica fell in her seat. "Uaggh. I'm convinced. And you called me Silk again."

"We should stop them before the next Tournament," said Kirito. "Good thing there's still some time. I will confer with the guild elders this afternoon."

"The leaders don't want to talk right now," said Lizbeth sadly. "They must be too shocked yet. Maybe we should just go on militia patrol ourselves and stop as many LCs as we could."

"Question is," cut in Klein, "how many are they?"

"Reliable stats place it at around 75 or so," replied Leafa, "but who knows if they have recruited far more than that since Tuesday?"

"Why would people want to join a PK team, anyway?"

"Despair," was Kirito's immediate answer. "They would do everything to avoid getting killed so they figured it's safe on to be on the murdering side. It's also a big motive for them to accept a representing team to fight for them in the Tournament. Though we have yet to see what Kayaba has to say about this arrangement."

"Oh, mentioning Kayaba," said Leafa, "I heard he has sent an audio message to the leader of Cattails, but it sounded like a rumor..."

"Hah," said Lizbeth in frustration. "People can still afford to talk showbiz in times like this. We need certainty."

Kirito stood up at once. "If it's Kayaba, we should bite it, anyway. Come on, team, we got a lead."

The team was at the door of the lodge that housed Cattails within the hour. It was shut, like so many other doors since LC. Since there wasn't any sign of life even from the windows, Kirito decided to knock away loudly. "Anyone, please?" he hollered. Still, it took about fifteen minutes before an eye showed up through the peephole.

"Goodness!" said the muffled voice from behind the door. "It's so like the great Kirito to walk around outside with serial PKs on the loose. You should remember that you're at the top of their hitlist."

"Top or bottom, all of us are targeted."

"So you should just look for a snug hole to lock yourself in. You even had to stay in a cafe. You will pay for your overconfidence one day."

"And so will you with your underconfidence. Locking ourselves in achieves nothing, only positive action can."

"You make it sound so easy." The door creaked open allowing only a minuscule gap to squeeze through. "Come in, anyway."

As soon as the door was shut and locked up behind them, the Cattails member turned on a dim light. "What is this?" asked Asuna. "If we're having a room this dim, we might as well go back IRL."

"There will be brighter rooms at the basement," said a voice. The Cattails leader appeared from a doorway with one other member. "It pays well to be discreet."

"There seems to be too much discreetness these days," remarked Leafa.

"You know there is a reason why we are like that."

"Indeed, there is," said Kirito. "You have an audio log from Kayaba himself, right?"

The leader was instantly taken aback, but tried to hide it with a derisive laugh. "So we risked ourselves letting you in just to be insulted? Maybe the next house will find your joke entertaining."

Kirito drew his sword and pointed it at the leader. His teammates and Cattails were quick to follow suit and aim their weapons at each other. "I hope you're convinced we're not joking," he said.

The leader sneered. "I see. You must be a PK now, also. Tch. I heard that so many want to work for Laughing Coffin lately." His face contorted in anger. "You are willing to commit lives over a nonsense allegation with no evidence?"

"If I must kill and turn this house inside out to find evidence, I will. If I find none, then it's just another day for me. As for lives, nobody's weeping the dead now since we are all awaiting our turn."

The rage in the leader's face quickly faded as Kirito's bluff ate into him. "Follow us upstairs," he said softly. "Promise us you will tell no one else-"

"What if everyone else need to know?" Kirito and his guildmates hardened their fighting stance. Cattails began to lower theirs. They knew they were hoarding info for their own benefit. Finally, they yielded.

* * *

"This group has started as part-time raiders and sometimes went into ransom-dealing abductions or thefts. Now that your progress in Aincrad has gone so far, they want to keep all the glory unto themselves for the higher floors."

Everybody watched on in amazement as Kayaba explained the workings of Laughing coffin. He knows quite a lot.

"I fully sanction killing these criminals and permanently banning them from the game. I could do it outright myself, but they seem to have set a firewall that could well take a month to disassemble. We cannot allow so much time to pass where they could kill or influence more players."

This mention of permanent banning, a death equivalent to losing in a Tournament, would have been quite acceptable to Kirito but he couldn't shake that feeling of dread. If dying such a death frightened him so, could he bring it on himself to inflict it on others?

"Here are all the facilities, hideouts, and forts held or otherwise used by the group." Everybody were stunned. The total places displayed on the map were daunting even to count. A number of large castles were also included. But the leader of Cattails was unimpressed.

"From what the game master said, LC must have begun as a smalltime group. They couldn't have taken possession of so much. I believe we should target only those areas that are originally theirs." He motioned over a swath of the screen. "This entire group in Faun's Village. I know the people there. They were only frightened into submission. Here. These have temporarily allied and even contribute manpower on raids, but if we could capture the ringleaders they can be persuaded to side with us again."

"All the more we need to communicate this with the rest," declared Kirito. "We must clearly explain to everyone who the real foes are so there will no senseless killing of innocents."

"Are you stupid? Only we know about this. We could just go on our own missions and take out the high-value targets."

"You said there are ordinary players who join Laughing Coffin in raids. If the victims defend themselves, those people will be killed as Kayaba said. The might be even used as fall guys or frontliners! Even now as we speak, dozens of unwary players are being killed by our own people."

"Then that means we must move now! Let us split as soon as night falls."

Any further argument about secrecy was soon rendered moot. Akihiko Kayaba spoke again.

"You need to move fast as a great crisis threatens Aincrad."

_What._

"The King of the Giants will emerge from his icy kingdom in the underworld of Alfheim. No one knows when he will strike, but you need to stop him, or else he will arise in this world and destroy the root of Yggdrasil..."

That was the name of the World Tree that supports the entirety of the New Aincrad. And if its greatest root is destroyed...

"...The entire map of ALO will be wiped out," spoke Lizbeth in a gasp, not quite believing, or wanting to believe.

The room itself seemed to spin on everyone's heads. It appears that the higher they go in Aincrad, the greater their suffering becomes. Who was this King? Where did _he _come from? Why did he choose _now _to make himself felt? Rather, if 'no one knows when he will strike,' why did Kayaba choose to lay this burden on them at precisely this time? Sometimes Kirito just wants to go back to the real world and seek the game master to put a good fist into his face.

"Everyone," he whispered, first of all to himself, "calm down."


	4. Resistance

"First off, we must split our manpower," explained Kirito. "Our fighting forces will tackle Laughing Coffin. The other party will descend to the underworld to find out everything about this King of Giants and what is happening there.

"Leafa. Lizbeth. Asuna and I will form the party against LC along with you. Klein, you take and Silica and Yui on the spying mission."

"Man," grumbled Silica. "Don't I get to see any action? Just because I'm a kid… Wait, no. I'm thirteen now! In three months I'll be an adult."

After meeting again with the guild leaders, Kirito and the other teams agreed to attack different LC sites that had been selected with the help of Cattails and a number of others. One group will take down an armory, the others will storm a safehouse, another will go through the villages to negotiate desertion. Their team will work with two other groups on assaulting one of their key fortresses and capture a high-level leader, XaXa.

Since then, the effort to subdue the PK group has yielded some results. On Day One alone, fifteen have been captured, of which three were determined to be original LC members and then executed. The rest were paralyzed and detained.

Day Two saw the capture of more members, about forty-one, but the LC ringleader got away, and the raid cost eight people on the party. Curiously, those eight could not be contacted after their demise.

Day Three the LC took the initiative, attacking a war planning session by several guilds, but they were met with very stiff resistance. The guilds suffered nineteen casualties, LC lost twenty-four players.

And none of them were originals.

"Close in! Close in!" yelled the leader of a raiding party on Day Four, chasing down some escaping hooded LCs. A numberof their hooded men have been slain along the way; a few were shooting back some arrows to slow the advance and killing a handful of party members. But advance they did, and they finally reached a warehouse the LC guys abandoned in haste. Blasting the door open with a spell, the party entered and found caches upon caches of blades and deadly potions that could potentially kill two thousand.

"Wait," said a tall armored man taking the leader aside. "We should take some. I got a hyperspace bag with me. A dozen or so won't hurt."

"What?" the leader said in alarm. "The others are right behind us!"

"What you don't tell them won't hurt them. Come on." And he began to take a number of potions. Seeing which potions he was taking raised the leader's eyebrows.

"Hold on! You're not taking _those, _man. They're transformation elixirs. I have an eye on them."

Dry laugh. "I'll leave one or two for you. Here," he said offering the smallest vial.

"You don't mess with me!" The leader then tried to wrestle the hyperspace bag out of his member, but in the ensuing struggle several bottles fell off and broke on the floor.

"Idiot!" screamed the man at the leader. "You will pay!"

"No..." he replied only looking at the floor. The other followed his gaze and saw... the liquid was bubbling away and was soon gone.

"It's fake."

The man's jaw started to shake. "Then all of the weapons here...?"

A crackling laugh taunted them from somewhere. They could not see the talking gecko on the dark ceiling overhead. "Humans are such fools."

"Wh-Who goes there?!"

"One of the potions is real." Indeed, a bottle stacked away from sight now started to glow. An explosive potion.

_POW._

* * *

Kirito was receiving nothing but bad news at the end of the day. A party was ambushed in the Forest of Toadstools. Another wiped out a column of LCs, only to find out that all of them were frontliners and were themselves finished off by the real thugs hiding in the bush. Yet another was victimized by a bomb trap.

"Those reptiles are learning pretty fast now," remarked Leafa drily. "Any new tricks, Kirito?"

The rest of his team turned to look his way. They should have been relaxing since they were at the resthouse. But he was quite absorbed in a rage of self-pity, banging the table with fist after desperate fist. Asuna's heart was crushed. Nothing made Kirito mad like a dead end.

"Everybody!" he thundered, stunning everybody. "We will not let any of them escape! Destroy all their allies! Destroy everyone who sympathizes with them! Destroy them all!" And he stormed out of the sala into his room.

They stood there speechless for about half an hour, until Asuna volunteered herself. "I'll talk to him," she said going to his room.

She found him there face planted on desk, hands grasping his head. He was still quivering a bit when she came in, but as soon as he calmed down some she took a chair and sat beside him. "Honey?" She didn't want to disturb the agitated man so she came on like velvet. "Kirito, you got to rest. You have already done so much today."

"..."

"Honey, come on. You're having everybody worried. What about Yui if she sees you like this?"

"Relaxing will not save lives or bring them back."

"That's true, but you yourself told them an individual cannot save anyone. Not even a team, I guess." She found the nerve to touch his back and stroke it gently. "There are too many out there all at the same time. No one of can us can be responsible for all of them."

"It's not really an issue of responsibility." He sat up and Asuna was mildly shocked to find his eyes puffy and red. Was he crying? "I can't accept this happening in Aincrad. What will happen to our world? What of our dreams? Asuna. You told me once this is our only home. What now if it goes down like that?" He was starting to tremble again. "And that cursed Giant King..."

She was quick to touch his cheek and kiss him. "Leave the underworld to Yui and the rest. Trust them. Right now we need to clear our minds. True, relaxing won't save lives, but neither would despairing. Only clear thinking can lead to the solutions we want."

Kirito collapsed against her arm and wept there. She did not speak another word, only hugged him. Maybe all he needs right now is to cleanse himself.

* * *

"OK, everyone," Asuna said. "The only thing we could do is to cripple LC. To completely exterminate them must wait for another day. We only need to knock them out for another two months or so, enough time to face the King of Giants, and then, to deal with the Tournament."

"A single strong enough attack," acknowledged Leafa. "To deal them a big enough shock, we must capture one of their core ringleaders..."

"... Or one of their key forts." Asuna again showed them the map Kayaba detailed earlier. "According to my analysis, this one," pointing to a place along an important river, "serves as the beating heart of the group. "Using the river quickly distributes manpower and supplies. "It would be unlikely for them to leave this place to mere recruits, so we have a good chance originals are holding it themselves."

"But we're not sure if the top brass is there..." commented Lizbeth.

"Still, if we destroy this place, enough originals will be killed for them to keep them from any large movement for a long time."

"All right," agreed Leafa. "When do we move?"

"Tonight. Before daybreak."

* * *

"Klein?" said Silica. A great fog separated her from the rest.

She could hear Pina calling out somewhere.

"Pina? Pina?" The cawing answered her, but it gave her no closer an idea to where her companions actually were. The fog was a dirty white that completely disoriented the girl, especially as to whether it was dark and bright. Finally, she just stopped and sat down feeling her breathing and trying to steady it.

"Pina," she whispered nervously, "you better show up in three minutes, or you won't get any Snyeckers from me."

Something grabbed her foot.

"Eah!"

"Shhh!" It was Klein. He crept up to her side. "I'm trying to listen in for any sign of Yui."

But there was no sound. Even their own voices seemed muted. Pina's crying is also gone. But then, a faint humming sound. The two tried to listen in closely, but they had n o idea what that might be. Maybe a stream or waterfall is out there somewhere.

_FAHHHHHH!_

Suddenly a blast of arctic chill ripped through the fog and swept it off completely. Klein and Silica were dismayed to find tiny icicles clinging onto them, but all that was completely forgotten when they looked up. Before them stood the towering root of Yggdrasil, ancient and pondering. Below them, the entire valley at the foot of the cliff was white with thick snow.

"Hey!" cried a voice happily. Yui was riding Pina. "I just upgraded Pina's ice breath. See? It's come in quite handy."

"Really?" Silica exclaimed in glee. Pina touched down in her arms where she kissed and kissed. "Oh, baby dear, how much you've improved! I'm so proud."

"We better hurry, guys," explained Yui motioning in the direction of the valley. "The king's castle is at the end of that valley."

* * *

"It's locked up."

But there was no door. Only gray stone stared back at them.

Leafa and Lizbeth lay prone in the grass under an invisibility blanket. No one seems to be guarding the castle, but they are not ones to be fooled after LC's ruse at the supposed weapons depot. There is nothing but faceless walls, without even any windows, no signs or hints to what is happening inside. Laughing Coffin sure did their homework when it came to counter-spying.

Or probably not.

"Leafa," whispered Kirito, from another blanket not far away, "The lack of any openings at the sides means that the best way to enter would be from above. Fly as high as you could and spy for us from there. Be careful."

"Hai," she assented. She crept back into the bush, before spreading her wings and finally taking flight.

It wasn't ten minutes, however, when she came back, spiraling downward sustaining two arrow wounds and managing to crash-land into the bush. The rest of team scrambled back to aid her.

Asuna immediately poured a healing potion. What struck Leafa were poison darts. In another five minutes, she would have been dead. Those LCs are pretty serious about actually killing players.

"Leafa," said Kirito in concern, "are you OK?"

"Onii...chan..." she said with a bit of pain left. "Hundreds... Tons of them. They shot me all at once. We can't get through."

"No, Leafa, we will," he reassured. "So they got the top covered. I should have known that if the only way to enter was from the sky. But we have no other choice."

"They're too many... Even if we manage to land, it'd be I think three of them to one of us."

Kirito smirked. "A paltry three to one. Good odds for any Greek."

"Eh?" everybody said. They weren't quite getting him.

"Speaking of Greek," he continued, "I remember about the time when Alexander battled Darius at Gaugamela. He was vastly outnumbered then."

"What's with the history lesson, doc?" said Lizbeth. "I thought we're in VR to escape the classroom."

"VR can be a classroom. Don't you remember that ALO's Cardinal system draws from histories and legends all over the world to construct itself? Yui got me some info before. Alex used skirmishers to stop the larger crowd from attacking him while he pursued Darius."

"Hah?" Lizbeth's mouth was now hanging. She wasn't even getting the hang of Kirito's yarn. "Skirmishers? There are only four of us."

* * *

The Laughing Coffin originals were vastly confident. They all had their bows ready. Scores of eyes scanned the heavens. They were sure nothing could escape their attention.

And right they were! In a minute, two dots marred the wide open emptiness of the bleak, gray heavens. They aimed; however, they could not shoot. The dots turned and twisted wildly every which way. When they did fire, they were doing so randomly and uncertainly, unable to put up a solid barrage of arrows. Right as Kirito and Asuna landed, they themselves immediately took out fifteen men with their paralysis darts. They stood back-to-back, anticipating attack on all sides.

Now, yelling, the enemy switched to blades: daggers, swords, rapiers. Above them, behind them, all around them, the enemy rushed at them. But he tied a massive club at the end of a loincloth and swung it in a wide circle that felled twenty... then thirty... wave after wave attacking blindly and getting owned. The sheer mass of numbers was playing exactly into Kirito's tactics. Asuna picked off distant targets.

Finally, the LCs responded by concentrating mass on the two fighters. About seventy killers closed in on them, forcing them to deal with a mob of multiple foes at close range all at the same time. Their formation, however, was broken by arrows striking from high above, picking them off individually at leisure. Lizbeth's. Any group that tries to overwhelm Kirito would be whittled down to bite-size by Lizbeth, and those who tried to shoot Lizbeth were taken down by Asuna.

Soon the majority was already paralyzed, and the two were allowed the luxury of finishing off isolated remnants, most of whom escaped, anyway.

The master of the fortress has been watching in dismay and now he hastily retreated into the castle.

Lizbeth landed onto scene. "Phew! That was some workout."

"Where's Leafa?" said Kirito.

"Out there, checking the castle somewhere."

"We need to get her. What if there was a trap somewhere?"

"I'll try to send her a message-"

_Oh no-_

Kirito's uncanny senses saw it coming. But it was not until the 50 cal. bullet was but a few yards away that he saw the thing itself. Just enough space for his reflexes to lift his sword...

And slice it.

"Form a line behind me!"

As soon as they did, the hailstorm came. Bullet after bullet was hit, deflected or otherwise destroyed by the black sword. His arm was in a blur like that of a spinning rotor of a chopper. Only in VR could he get that fast.

As soon as a lull in shooting fell, they took wing and flew off to the safety of a distant archway, but the fortress master reloaded fast and soon they were being chased around by more bullets. Quite a lot hit the paralyzed LCs, shattering them into pixels. Kirito was angered by this senseless wastage of life inflicted on one's own comrades. They made it.

"They are... really animals," Kirito gasped through gritted teeth.

He suddenly realized that they were trapped. They were being closely watched and targeted by the sniper's sights. Every tiny move, if only so much as a shadow jutted out into the open, immediately elicited a bullet. It would be now nigh impossible to get out of their hiding place unscathed, to even speak of getting close to the enemy.

"Where's Leafa?" demanded Kirito worriedly.

Lizbeth only shook her head, trying to convince him that it was too dangerous.

In the meantime, the LC master was gloating behind the scope. Surely, those storybook quacks don't stand a chance against modern weaponry, if anything could be proven from what that hack jock did to the boss at Floor 68. And with the narrow window he was hiding in, it is a far cry for them to attack him from a great distance.

But a sniper's weakness lay in being sneaked up to, up close. Leafa slowly flew down from atop the hole with something strapped on her back. It was a pain to carry in flight, but she got used to it pretty fast.

Easy now...

The enemy was so busy with his scope trying to hit Kirito that he didn't at all notice the snout of the flamethrower aimed at him.

_"Eaaahhhhh!"_

This situation is helped by the fact that a flamethrower is rather effective fired into a bunker.

Kirito could see the smoke pouring forth from the window, carrying with it a lot of sparkling pixels. Carefully, he groped out of the archway, followed by the girls, and was astonished to see that the enemy position was actually burning. He was even more stunned to see Leafa descending with that unearthly contraption on her, staring at her as though she was a new type of alien race.

"Leafa..." he stammered. "D-Did you have to do that?"

"Of course," she dismissed. "He's got a lot of this dieselpunk stuff in one of the rooms. He cheated, so I don't see why I shouldn't."

Kirito just remembered what he said about Laughing Coffin being animals. Perhaps he was right. Or perhaps, he has spoken too soon.

* * *

Yui, Klein, and Silica has returned with a rather glum report. The entirety of the underworld was frozen. The native plants and animals were dying off in massive numbers and only the flying elephant-jellyfish-creatures were seen going around, and even they were being bullied by the King's henchmen.

"Two identical beast bosses were guarding the entrance to the castle," said Silica.

Yui indicated that there was actually a sort of timer running which told how long it is before the king have had complete control over the place and was ready to ascend to Aincrad. She would have found out exactly when, but there wasn't time.

So for now, they're going back to the resthouse.

An air of festivity reigned in Alfheim upon hearing the news of the LC fortress's capture. It could take anywhere from one month to four before they could re-launch a full-scale offensive, though the people will still have to beware of muggings in remote areas.

Silica, Leafa, and Lizbeth took time off to take a dip at a nearby river. The water was so clear and faintly turquoise in color. Water grasses grew on the riverbed and little fish populated the waters. Klein swam far out. The couple and their sleeping AI child relaxed under a makeshift cottage. It was the best place to celebrate a job well done.

"Kirito, look," said Asuna holding up a rare herb. They actually have this in here. I forgot the name of this, but it is a tropical spice my grandparents grew in the greenhouse when I was little." She sniffed at the plant. "Too bad they didn't include the smell in here."

"Game devs are getting lazier these days," remarked Kirito. "They only want to focus on what brings the money." Yawn. Well, at least the water's green."

The girls waved at the couple from where they were bathing, laughing.

"Say, honey," she said leaning against him, "have you tried cooking back ribs in cyberspace?"

"Eh?" What was this about?

She giggled. "I got the chance to perfect my cooking here in VR. Did you know they got this wonderful cookware shop at the Town of Sparkles? And there's a beautiful spice garden at the foot of Laurel Hill. I think I can set up a cooking mini-game myself!"

Kirito smiled indulgently down at his dear girl.

"We should go see it sometime. Yui will love it there."

"Of course she will." He took an arm around her and they stayed that way for almost an hour, just like that. Relaxing.

A wind toppled the roof of the cottage and startled the two. Lizbeth just sent a gust in their direction. "Hey, lovebirds! Take a break from your date, will ya?" the girls flew over to them and pulled them along out to a pair of islands on the river. "We just saw those earlier this morning. Perfect for camping, ne?"

"I even have the perfect name for them!" Silica exclaimed, before she was gagged by a nervously laughing Leafa.

"Silky, we're supposed to keep that a secret!" She felt Silica's tongue lick the inside of her palm. "Eyah! Eew."

"Hey guys!" proclaimed the girl. "That small island there is Kirito Island! And the larger one is Asuna Island!"

"Wha-!" Lizbeth said. But Silica flew away with Pina laughing. "You come back here! Cheat!" And then she and Leafa took chase.

"Oh my," said Asuna, blushing. "That's just... romantic." And then a bit of frown. "But why the larger island me?"

"I don't know," laughed Kirito. "Maybe you put on a lot of weight now!" he flew off laughing.

"Wait! No fair!" She flew after him, and the sky was now full of aerial horseplay while Klein looked on savoring the cool of the river. Yui slept soundly in the shade.

Say, do AIs ever dream?


	5. The Salvation of Aincrad

Heavy masses of dark, almost black, clouds hung over Kirito and company as they sped past above the icy wastes of Jothunheimr in eye-blinking flight. Only the lightning strikes competed with them in a contest of velocity, they to get through to the castle holding the legendary sword Calibur, the deadly bolts to stop them from doing so.

"Go, go, go!" they called to each other, urging them on through the daunting peril of electric death. Yui helped a lot by generating marks of the spots where a strike would hit seconds before it does.

"Come on you flies!" yelled Klein. "Do you wanna live forever?!"

"Of course, you bug!" replied Silica.

"Then survive!" replied Lizbeth in turn. It has turned into something of a game of out-hamming and out-flying each other.

Kirito led the team down into a frozen forest where they now have to hurdle closely-packed stands of trees. But this was a bit easier than trying to avoid thunderbolts. Finally, Kirito signaled to them to slow down, and then they landed in a small clearing in the woods.

"Hahh…" said Silica. "I almost ran into that oak. I'm so tired."

"We'll only need to walk from here," said Kirito. He led the team down a narrow path that ended at the foot of a face of sheer cliff.

"Are we going to climb?" asked Klein.

"Yes," he confirmed. "A great height. But not there." He cleared some icicle-laden underbrush, revealing a hole only large enough one person to squeeze through. "Yui has shown us this shortcut to the boss room. This way, we will avoid over 54% of henchmen and make our progress time 38% shorter."

Kirito slid into the hole, and followed immediately by the others. Klein went in, also, but was considerably hindered by the greater bulk of his avatar. "Drat. Why didn't they give a pixie body?" But he did manage squeeze in with much screaming effort, and, at last, he was in-

"Ahhhhhhh!" he shouted as he fell fast through the deep chasm. Kirito was right about the great height. Somebody caught Klein's hand. Leafa's, clinging to a vine rope, but her grip slipped, and it took Kirito's stronger clutch to halt Klein's freefall.

"Get onto the rope," he invited. Turns out he was also right about the climbing. "Just loosen your hold a little bit so you could slide. This will save us more energy than flying down would."

"Valiant warriors," the Queen had said, "the fate of Jotunheimr rests on you. Please, do not fail us."

The Queen Urd has just spoken to them before they set out for the castle. When she had heard of the champions of Aincrad coming down to save their realm she lost no time in appearing to them, explaining what the underworld was like before the King of Giants spoiled everything.

"Summer never ended. In the morning, a sweet breeze carried the scents of entire meadows of wildflowers into every hearth of every home. The waters flowed abundantly. Everyone, faeries, elves, creatures great and small, all were at peace."

That is, until this King suddenly showed up and put the entire realm under perpetual winter. Even the inhabitants started turning on each other, the animals being particularly victimized by the king's henchmen.

"Calibur is in the boss chamber itself," explained Yui. "If we defeat the boss, it will immediately show itself."

"Do you know what kind of enemy we are facing?" Kirito asked.

"Further info is locked. We'll have to find out ourselves."

"So we'll get into the usual formation. Klein, you and I will frontally attack while the girls will harass and confuse the enemy. Yui will keep looking for any weakness."

* * *

They had little problem hacking through 54% less guards, and in just under half an hour, much earlier than they anticipated, they found themselves at an expansive hall where loomed before them a giant double-door made of some kind of shining, mystic metal.

"How do we get into the boss chamber?" asked Kirito.

"No, Papa. We _are _in the boss chamber. Calibur itself is behind that door.

"So that means…" A quaking finished the sentence for him. The floor was rising. When they looked down, they were startled to see that the sun-faced symbol was coming alive, so they flew off at once. The floor symbol was the boss.

"Watch out!" warned Yui. "High levels of magic resistance. We might not have a strong enough magic attack!"

Klein only sneered. "Then let's hack away!" he yelled as he and Kirito charged down at it with their swords only to find that the face has flipped over presenting a side made of some shiny, smooth crystal impervious to blades.

"Quick!" urged Asuna. "Cast your spells!"

But the thing was quicker to flip back to its anti-magic face. Everybody was stunned. Here was something they never encountered before: An adversary that could not be attacked.

"Reprise!" cried Yui. "Two seconds!"

The face glowed and roared an icy shock wave. The entire team scrambled away in time and flew up to the top of the pillars where they hid for a while.

"Yui," said Kirito urgently, "Do you detect any weakness?"

"I'm sorry, Papa," she said plaintively. "I've scanned everything." Kirito gritted his teeth in frustration. Is this perhaps the end? Maybe they should turn back now?

"Hey!" shouted Klein from atop a distant pillar. "If we can't attack it either physically or magically, maybe we should do both?"

Yui brightened up at the idea. "Of course! If we attack a single face with both, one of these will do the job. If the boss presents a magic face, the physical attack will do it in. It can't switch to its other face because it will be open to the spells."

"OK," said Kirito. "That's pretty straightforward. Let's do it. Team!"

As one, the entire team charged again, Asuna and Leafa casting high-powered spells, while Lizbeth, Silica, and the boys wielded their heaviest weapons.

"Yahhhhhh!"

Suddenly the thing spun around with blinding speed, throwing everyone off guard. "Ahhh!" said Lizbeth clutching her head. "This is maddening!"

The boss stopped, and quickly emitted the shock wave again. The team had to retreat back in midgame again.

"This might be too dangerous for all of us," mused Kirito. "Let me test him for a bit." To the others, "Everyone! Attack the boss again with magic and arrows from your hiding place! I will play with it for a while."

The combined attacks elicited the spinning motion again. He flew out and threw his sword, also spinning, but it got deflected everytime and he had to fly back and forth just to retrieve the weapon. This was getting tiring.

"Kirito-kun!" called out Asuna. "We have to think of a better way. Our power level's running out fast!"

"It's just spinning too fast!" said Kirito.

"That's it!" exclaimed Yui in a flash of insight.

"What?" everybody chorused.

"Huh-" the AI blurted, catching herself. "No, no, move along, everyone, keep attacking."

But she herself flew over to Silica and whispered something in her ear. "Oh," she said remembering, "come to think of it, where was Pina when we needed him?"

She took out her pet dragon from her shoulder bag and woke it up. "Come on, sweetie." The creature roused groggily. "Hey, Pina, gimme a bubble breath. Over there," she said, pointing at the spinning floor boss. "Come on, make momma proud."

The dragon shook itself warming up, then released a flurry of bubbles down to the floor. They had a somewhat intoxicating effect, and the boss slowed down; still fast, but no longer blindingly so.

"Papa!" she shouted to Kirito. "Now!"

He threw another spinning blade at the thing. A wide enough window of time was ensured for Kirito's sword to fit into the gaps of the spinning boss where it can get caught. And the sword did! It ended up being stuck between the boss and the floor. The enemy could not spin anymore and was on its side, exposing both of its faces.

"Yeah!" the team chorused. Now it was easy to position the spellcasters and the blade wielders on the appropriate sides and take it out on the right faces. Piece of cake.

It was soon over. *CONGRATULATIONS*

"Hahhh," said everybody in relief.

"We have to say it for Yui," said Kirito. "She saved us plenty of trouble twice. If she didn't show us a shortcut, we might have been worn down and didn't have the energy to keep up that fight. Let's go."

They stood before the great door and then, acknowledging them, opened with a great creaking (as SFX for large castle doors do) and the inside shone forth, revealing the great sword stuck on the block of granite.

"Who is worthy of taking the Sword of Ages, who defeats the mighty Mazrurka?"

"I, Kirito, defeated the mighty Mazurka, and I am worthy of the Sword of Ages."

The block of rock shone forth and exploded in light, whiting out everything. When they have recovered, Kirito found the sword in his grasp. Everyone applauded and cheered. He tested it.

"It's surprisingly light," he remarked. "It's even lighter than Elucidator."

"It is really heavy, Papa," clarified Yui. "No one can even lift it out of its stone. That only means you were worthy enough to hold it." Hug. "I'm so proud of you, Papa."

"Right you are, little fairy," a kind, gentle voice affirmed.

The air in the boss chamber shimmered until it materialized the form of the Queen Urd herself. "Valiant faeries," she said happily. "You truly are the Ones destined to save Jotunheimr. But you must make haste. You need to take the sword with you to the Castle of the King himself."

"We understand," said Kirito. He raised his sword. "We will not fail you! We will deliver the people of all Alfheim!" His teammates wildly cheered.

"Indeed you will. But you must find Mjolnr."

_Whut._

"When has this become an Avengers game?" asked Klein.

"Mjolnr is the great thunder-hammer of the mighty Thor. You will need to resonate the power of Calibur with that of Mjolnr, and only then shall you be strong enough to destroy the King of the Giants."

Yui suddenly floated up to right in front of the queen's face. The queen faintly, but noticeably, grimaced in annoyance. It was so out-of-place with what has been the kind, just ruler they have spoken to so far, that it came as a bit of a shock. "Yui," said Kirito. "What kind of manners is that before Her Highness herself?"

"I was just going to ask something, Papa. I thought it was just fine with the kind and wise Queen, but she doesn't seem to be kind now. Or wise. Or even Urd."

Everybody staggered at this revelation. Then who-?

"I just detected a faint signature from this avatar. It's enough to tell she's not an NPC at all."

The specter suddenly blurred in static and turned into the sprite of Akihiko Kayaba, to everyone's dutter dismay. "Your little partner seems to know a bit too much."

"Are you planning to block me?" said Yui. "Sorry, but I'm not a simple program that can be manipulated. An AI knows her way around the system."

Kayaba responded with an indulgent laugh. "Indeed, it is, I must admit. No wonder about artificial _intelligences. _But don't worry. All I ever intended for you is to aid you brave heroes in your quest to save Aincrad."

"If so," said Leafa, "then why did you have to hide from us? Are you trying to test us?"

"I have been hearing of your plans about the Tournament," he continued, evading the question. "I know how forward-thinking you are, gathering the guild leaders and such. And you were right to do so. For defeating the King of Giants... _is itself the next Tournament."_

The world seemed to spin wildly around them.

Kirito gritted his teeth in frustration while the rest of the team seemed to go limp from the sudden bad news. ALO just _had _to be always a step ahead of them in all things.

Kirito spoke up on behalf of the team to bolster their morale, raising his sword. "I don't care what kind of Tournament we face! I don't give a spit who gets thrown at us! We will prevail! With Calibur in our hands, _no one can defeat us!"_

Another patronizing chuckle from Kayaba. "Suit yourself."

"Game master," said Yui. "You must assure us that finding Mjolnr will be the last requirement in winning this Tournament. You will not sneak up anything more on us. I vow I will find you out if you do."

Chuckle. "Indeed you will." To the rest of the team, "I indeed planned this contest to be a single-team combat, where each team fights the Frost King in turn. Each loss won't affect the rest. But you and the leaders decided that your team will represent the the entirety of Alfheim. I will respect your wishes.

"Actually, you have just made a much better and convenient concept than I did. I congratulate your brilliance. It will make the progress of the game faster."

For the game's sake, yes. But that means if this single team of Kirito is to fail... All it takes will be that single loss, for all of Alfheim.

"Should you fail, however," this with an ominous ring to it, "catastrophe will befall Aincrad. The world above will be conquered by frost, Yggdrasil will die bit by bit... and all your people will lose their powers, except Laughing Coffin, who will hunt them down."

"I wish you the best of luck," said Kayaba as he faded away. "Go forth, brave defenders of Alfheim!"

Lizbeth dropped on all fours in despair and wept bitterly. "You did not tell us anything!" she yelled. _"Curse you!"_

They stood for a full five minutes indulging in self-pity until Lizbeth, still heaving from her sobs, felt Kirito's hand on her shoulder.

"Liz," he said, "Do not cry." He went over and stood where the sword and its stone had been, and addressed the team. "Everybody. I don't care what frightening possiblities lie in wait of us. But remember..." He took in a good deal of a view of the entire band in one sweeping gaze. "... These are just possibilities. Right now, we're still in the game. We can still save Aincrad.

"Just remember that our real goal, our real dream, is to create a just and perfect world for all, in Alfheim. Just remember this, how beautiful and peaceful a world awaits us with our victory, so give your lives, if you have to, to create that world."

Liz stood up and clutched her spear once more, wiping her tears on an arm. "We will not lose."

Their resolve spread to the others, filling them with a renewed vigor. "For Aincrad!" they shouted in unison, raising their weapons.

Jothunheimr seemed to get colder than ever. Asuna amped up her cold-resistance spell, but in truth, only sheer determination propelled the party on through the deathly cold.

"We'll take about two hours getting to the castle this way," complained Leafa about their progress even as they flew at full speed. It was because the King's abode was actually located at Thrymheim, the inverted ice pyramid directly beneath Yggdrasil, and was therefore too high. "There's got to be a faster way!" She flew at a steep angle, higher and higher, and it seemed at that speed, she is going to hit the ceiling, but at a certain point, she suddenly felt heavy, and heavier as she went higher. Soon, her weight stopped her altogether, and then she was in freefall.

When she woke up from fainting, she found herself caught by Kirito's arms and surrounded by concerned teammates. "Are you alright, Leafa?"

"It's no use," Asuna said sadly. "At a certain height, no one can fly in Jothunheimr's atmosphere."

They were suddenly disturbed by a loud, rumbling cry from far below. They turned to see a native creature, a Tyrant-type, elephant-jellyfish-looking animal being tied by a rope trap and forcibly being pulled down by several of the king's henchmen.

"Well, tickle my nipples with a feather," said Klein. "I think this is our lucky day."

* * *

It took exactly four minutes and thirty-two seconds, approximately the length of an inane movie trailer, to dispel the henchmen and free the heffalumpish creature. Turns out it was the perfect bus service to great altitudes. Its great size also belied the speed at which the ground shrank beneath them. At this rate, it will only take them forty-five minutes.

"Hey, Kirito-san," said Lizbeth while on the go, "I just remembered. Didn't we ever have a name for our team?"

A number of them were surprised at this. It never occurred to them, somehow.

"I don't worry about that," said Asuna. "Whether we have a name or not, it does not matter, as long as we fight together and believe in each other. Ne, Kirito-kun?"

"Heheh," agreed Klein. "Our group's too cool for a name. Everybody in Aincrad knows us already, name or no."

" 'Knights of the Sworn Pledge,' " said Leafa, to Klein's dismay.

" 'The Sword of Aincrad!' " exclaimed Leafa.

"No, not that. Wait, I have a better one. 'The Legends of Jothunheimr!"

Kirito and Asuna were speechless, and indeed powerless, to stop the name game between Leafa and Lizbeth.

"Strawberry…" Silica suddenly said.

"Eh?" everybody chorused.

"Strawberry... fields..." she finished with a bright smile. "Forever."

They were at a loss at this suggestion. "That's just... diabetic," said Lizbeth. "It's too cute."

"Urgggh..." said Leafa. "I may pop out cliche team names, but at least I don't include words like 'Eternal' and 'Forever!' Hmph. You know that every lover you've seen before who always utter 'Forever' are actually the worst two-timers in history."

Asuna was delighted. "I think it's a wonderful name, Silica-chan! I always loved the strawberry fields of my grandparents in Miyagi. What do you say, Kirito-kun?"

Kirito was still at a loss, but managed to delve into the discussion. "What do you say, Klein?"

He was visibly troubled. "Uggh... Ahhh... I just watched something in middle school."

"W-Well never mind," dismissed Kirito. "Let's hang on to that for now. Look! The castle is near!"

And so, the rest of the way, coming into full view of Thrymheim, Silica sang out how she wanted to take people down to where she's going to, that is, Alfheim, where 'nothing is real,' and there's nothing to get hung about, as it had truly been in the original peaceful New Aincrad.

"Look," said Leafa, "I can see the door."

Everybody braced for the landing clutching their sheathed weapons and spreading their wings. Such was the tense excitement of the upcoming fight that nobody but Yui noticed a darkening of the sky behind the fortress. "Papa," she warned, "we should move faster. The weather's going bad."

But he gave no further heed than a token glance at the side. Then, all of a sudden, a squall blew, harrying the team with a shear wind chill factor and biting frost icicle, which very quickly escalated into a full-blown snowstorm.

"Kirito-kun!" Asuna tried to shout above the commotion.

He himself was hearing faint cries through the driving chill winds, but could not tell what they were saying, or even who was saying them. They clung desperately onto the beast fur, but it was itself being swayed back and forth by the hurricane force.

Almost as quickly as it came, the storm vanished. Everything was a dead and uneasy calm, and, if anything, the air just became a lot colder. Kirito, Klein, Silica, and Yui were covered in frost.

The great beast managed to park itself right next to the ledge of the entrance, just as the three were recovering, dusting the frost off of their persons. "Leafa-chan?" Silica said looking for her.

But they were nowhere to be found.

Her eyes cast round about the empty space which they occupied just a while ago. She kept staring at it, harder if it could be helped, as if somehow in virtual reality, a gaze can materialize people out of thin air. But there was none. "Leafa-chan...?" Her eyes started to well up. "Liz-chan? Asuna-san?" She broke down. "Leafa! Liz! Asuna!"

Kirito' has been staring as well. When he heard her scream, his hands shook. He collapsed on his knees as though hit with a taser, but his body, though prone, was quivering violently.

**_"Asuna!"_**

* * *

Klein gazed vacantly in the direction of the castle door, as though weighing if going in was still worth it at all. But his comrades have lost all hope. Kirito sat dejectedly far across from him, Silica wept loudly elsewhere, Yui was still functioning, sorts, gently trying to notify her Dad of his body menu and the fact that time is ticking away...

_Maybe we'll just stay like this for the rest of the game, _he mused.

Their team simply wasn't a team if but one of them were gone. Sinon's loss they have absorbed quite well since she was a newcomer; heh, even he himself wouldn't be a damage to the team if he got killed. But those girls were there from the beginning. They have built themselves around the pair of Kirito and Asuna. And even that core has just been halved. Not to speak of having to die in a Tournament. This kind of demise had an air of finality in it, as though dying such a death in the game also meant dying in real life...

Or is it?

He crept over to Kirito and lay back on the wall beside him. "Hey," he said tentatively. "You don't think someone who dies in a tourney gets banned from the game, right?"

"…"

"I mean, there's no proof. Come on, man, all we have to do is look for those guys and find another game..."

Except that their real-life identities and addresses were completely unknown. They met for the first time in-game, and henceforth always met in-game, never bothering with the trivialities of an outside world they have no relish of mentioning in this virtual paradise. Indeed, it was a tradition in ALO that no one will ever return to his past life and maintain only very minimal involvement with anything outside the NerveGear, what with bodily functions and such, though quite a number of players have done away with the world completely, hooking themselves up to IVs and adult diapers changed by hired hands monthly. To be gone forever from ALO was to be sent back to the real world, which was to them a death in itself.

And of course, there was that other possibility... But those were just rumors, and not even in the mainstream.

"Come on, Tiger. Here." He offered his hand. "We got a world to save. We'll beat the game, and then force Kayaba into a better deal. We'll have him restore all who were killed in the previous matches. If not everybody, at least we'll get the girls back."

He found his hand brusquely shoved aside and his collar grabbed by a maddened Kirito. "What proof is there they'll be back?!" he roared. _"Hah?!_ You say you don't even know if they're gone for good, and now you're guaranteeing Kayaba will get them back?!"

"Kirito..." he stammered. "The world..."

"I have no world!" His tears broke through. "They're not my family. Not my friends... They're not Asuna... I have nothing to do with them."

Kirito's grip loosened owing to his renewed grief, so Klein managed to put his hands gently off the collar. "Look, Tiger, I don't know about you, but this samurai," pointing to himself, "grew up without family or friends. Maybe that makes me insensitive to you, but I just tell myself, hey I got no family no more, but that only means the world is my family now. Something like that. I may not sound convincing now, but what I'm saying is that we really have no choice but go forward. Hey, are you getting me?"

"..."

Silica has just stopped crying, looking in their direction, but little sobs bubbled forth.

"So, from here on, nobody's talking about not having a world, understand?"

Kirito's glance shifted to Yui, still looking at him in concern. He grabbed her. "Yui. Y-You're going to bring back Mama... Right? You can talk to Kayaba... _Right?"_

The AI was puzzled and a bit scared, but in the end she reassured him. "Papa. I can feel Mama. She's still alive. I just know it."

This was enough for now. With a gritting of teeth and a rekindled rage, he stood up. "Silica! Klein!" he commanded. "We will not waste time. We will revive everybody! We are the salvation of Aincrad!"

* * *

A severed mandible was pinned against the wall as another giant insect mook was defeated. Those enemies were supposed to be more difficult than usual, but Kirito's rage did a much faster work on them. Finally, all that was left was to traverse the great distance of the final leg of the route to the boss room itself.

"Papa! Mjolnr is in the boss room, but I can't detect exactly where. Maybe the king is trying to hide it from us."

"Tch. So that means we may have to look for it while trying to stave off the enemy at the same time. In that case, Klein and I will hold off the King, while you and Silica snoop around in the boss room."

"But if the boss room's too big, it will definitely take a while," said Klein. "Can we hold out long enough?"

"Don't worry, Klein-san," said Yui. "The power of Calibur should be sufficient to keep the King of Giants at bay. Papa's stats just got a 40% upgrade just by taking it back at the castle. I'm sure it can only go up from there."

The party kept up at full speed for about five minutes when Silica, at the head of team, slowed down and pointed out something. "Look!"

The team slowed to awalk to inspect a tall object that lay right beside the hallway. A cage. It was crafted with the finest mineral crystal in Jothunheimr, and even had a thin screen of magic around it, easy to break, but strong enough to hold its prisoner in.

"Oh my flippers..." breathed Klein.

It was a girl.


	6. The King of Giants

"She's gorgeous."

Indeed, she was. She had all the trappings of a fairy princess: gold-hemmed robe, an exquisite complexion, such little, dainty hands, and flowing golden hair that reached down to her ankles, and even reached all the way out of the cage for a bit. She was on her knees, trying to prop herself up with much-weakened arms. "Help me…"

Klein bent down to her level. "Hello, babe," he said gently. "Why are you imprisoned here? Who was the heartless thug who put you here? Come on, let's beat him up."

Kirito facepalmed. "You're gonna make her beat up someone while she's in jail? Like, 'Hey let me get out of the bars for a sec so I can smack down the guard and get the keys.' Besides, she'd only weigh us down."

"Have you no compassion?" retorted Klein. "How can we just leave someone defenseless and alone in this creephole? Who knows if there are more bug monsters lurking around?"

"Umm, Klein-san," said Yui, "I have checked. I'm sure there are no more enemies around."

"No more enemies?" he blurted. "Then who put her in here?!"

Father and child stared at each other, as if trying to ask whose fault it was that the man was too dense to talk to. They turned to Silica, who turned away with a flat expression, and went on ahead. "I'm going now. See you at the door!" she called back.

They looked back at each other and made a pact with their eyes that they would bear with Klein for now. "Well, Yui, do you know if she could help us?"

Yui scanned the maiden and immediately spotted an HP bar right above her. "She's an NPC, all right. She's connected to the same language module used to run Queen Urd. But she has a gauge. We might have to fight her, Papa."

"Fight her?!" exclaimed Klein. "How are we supposed to have such a beautiful and lovely girl for an enemy?"

"She's a trap," said Kirito.

"Yup," seconded Yui. "She's a trap."

"She _definitely _a trap."

"She's definitely a _trap."_

"Would you believe that she's really a trap?"

"She's a trap, she's a trap, she's a trap…" sang Yui, giving away a bit of her TV preferences. "She's a trap!"

"See? Traps have to be enticing and attractive to bait whatever it's catching, right? The same's true in the real world."

Klein was aghast.

"Come on," said Kirito moving on. "We have no time to waste." And they dashed off.

Klein was now faced with a hard choice. Stay here and gaze at the beautiful girl and probably just fool himself, or run after the team and remain single a bit yet longer. With heavy feet, he had to follow.

"Please…" entreated the girl after him. "Please. Someone."

And what wonders heavy feet can do to a person's mobility. Even though he felt like he had made so many steps, he actually has not covered much of a distance at all. It was quite a while already and yet when he looked back he could still see the cage at some distance behind.

* * *

"Wow, man," said Kirito. "Thanks for making our quest 50% more of a drag."

"Look, Tiger," reasoned Klein. The girl was slung on his back. "Your kid says she's got a hit meter. Based on that you said she's an enemy. Then what about us, man? All of us have hit meters. Are we going to kill each other? And there's less proof that she's a trap."

"Pal," he said patting his shoulder, "We only wanted to make sure. You know that Aincrad's depending on us. And you think I'll let you have a girl while mine is nowhere at all?"

"Pal," he said also tapping his shoulder. "I have my girl, we'll get yours back. That's a deal, right?" He threw his hands up. "Gimme a break, I didn't even know what it's like to be in a relationship, while even Silica's got a crush on you."

"Uweh!" she reacted with a blush. "Cut that out! I don't know what you're saying!"

"Trust me pal," said Klein. "I know how to cut a good deal."

Kirito wanted to argue further but they were at that moment right before the great door of the boss room. There was no time to lose. He just sighed in annoyance and turned to the room.

He touched the door testing how strong it was, but to his surprise it opened a bit at once at the lightest tap as though it was made of paper. A firmer push swung open a good-sized gap.

When they entered the room, they were even more astonished. At one corner lay a pile of all sorts of treasure: mounds of gold coins and bars, jewels of every hue, crowns and artifacts of unique elegance and form. Not so impressive, though, when one remembers they may not count for in-game currency.

"We're supposed to look for something here, right?" said Silica.

"That's strange," Yui said. "I cannot detect Calibur anymore. But I was so sure it was in here. How could I sense Calibur from the outside when it seems to be absent inside?"

"It could only be some well-placed concealing magic," Kirito explained. "You may have to look for it manually."

"What?" Silica's jaw dropped. The room was so high the ceiling was obscured by darkness. The floor area was itself too wide to run across, and intimidating enough to fly across, even. And if the sword actually lay hidden in the pile of treasures…

"It could take a day to completely turn the room inside out," remarked Yui.

"Good sir," said the girl weakly. "Please let me rest here for a moment."

"Whatever you say, cupcake." He lay her down, while his teammates looked on in exasperation. "Say, hon, you haven't told me your name."

She smiled so beautifully it elicited a grin he could not keep down. "I am Freyja. Thank you for rescuing me. I promise that you will be rewarded for your kindness."

"You know I am rewarded right now, darlin'," crooned Klein. "You know I'd refuse all of that dough in the corner just to see your smile. Just leave me a gem or two," he finished with a wink.

"I'm sorry, brave swordsman. But I must retrieve all of my family treasure which Thrym stole from me."

"The King of Giants?" said Kirito.

"Un," she assented. "I must recover my fallen honor. Thrym keeps me here saying he will marry me. But how can I marry someone so cold of heart, so cruel to the people of Jothunheimr?"

"That's right, hon," Klein said feelingly. "How could he? How could he make such a lovely maiden as you so sad? You know I would never do that to you."

"Klein-san, Pina can tell you're a total newbie to love with your catchphrases. At least don't show it off."

Suddenly the maiden propped herself against Klein and managed to stand. She cast a spell on the entire party that maxed out their HP before collapsing again and leaning against him. Silica was delighted.

"Cool! You're a boss, ma'am."

"We will need that for the fight," she said. "Thrym is a vicious king. He will stop at nothing to kill us all."

Kirito was somewhat nervous. "You make it sound kind of hard."

"Heh," bragged Klein. "With dovey-love at our side, we can never lose! Didn't she already level us up? We're totally going to pound this Thrym-Thrym like a potato."

"And bast him in a little butter and a dash of lime?" asked a large, rumbling voice.

"Exactly! And then we'll put in some salsa and microwave him. He'll be ready in three minutes. He'll never bother Jothunheimr and Freyja ever again!"

Klein did not notice his team bracing themselves. The voice kept speaking. "Funny. I was thinking the same thing. Except that I was the one doing it to you."

Now, the boss emerged out of the darkness at the other side of the room. His steps made the floor shake, and it also shook Klein out of his bragging. The King of Giants has finally showed himself. "I am highly offended by your taste, fairy warriors. Who puts lime and salsa in mashed potatoes? You will pay for insulting the stately elegance of my abode."

Kirito wasn't quite registering the fact that he was staring at the boss's _toes._ He had to look up to confirm that there was actually an enemy. Now, what kind of strategy must a party of four adapt when facing a boss the size of a skyscraper? First, maintain your cool...

The king saw Freyja with them. "Humph. I see you have my wife with you. Give her back to me, and I will let you leave this place alive."

"Sure," said Kirito. "You can have her right now."

His teammates were startled. "You... Why?!" whined Klein.

"Come on, you're big. Reach out your hand and get her now."

"Step aside, fairy fleas."

"We will, if you get us Mjolnr right away."

The king laughed such that it shook the entire room and with such a deep voice it chilled even their insides. "My pleasure, fairy bugs. But don't fool yourself thinking that you can defeat me with Mjolnr alone. Where would Calibur be, may I ask?" A roaring, insulting laugh.

"Then, what about a little _pedicure? Yaahh!" _He finally charged wielding Calibur and struck a deep cut into the giant's toe, strong enough to make him yelp in pain. He ran across the floor driving the blade all along the rest of the toes and caused the giant to step back and groan. Clearly he wasn't expecting to be hurt enough by the puny bite of 'fleas.'

"You have Calibur…?" the king stammered. It appears only the legendary sword has the capacity to wound the frost giant.

So now, the king decided not to play with them anymore. With a loud roar he raised his arms, and hammered down a massive fist down onto the floor, missing Kirito by a heartbeat, but producing a major shock wave that threw everybody in the air. Good thing Freyja cast another spell to regroup them and soften their fall.

Thrym was not amused. "I suggest it would be best not to help these pests, my dear Freyja," he said.

He released another attack, this time a double punch. Freyja had such a hard time keeping up a shield to that. She fainted as soon as the attack wore off and she was sure everybody was safe.

"Freyja!" yelled Klein. He turned to Thrym. "You will pay for this!"

"Papa!" warned Yui. "Another two-fist in two seconds!"

Just enough time to take wing and scramble out of harm's way, Klein carrying Freyja. Fortunately, she was rather light. "You will not escape!" said the king. He made another loud roar that put the shock waves in the air. This was a bit easier to evade since they were flying, but they cannot dodge forever.

"You are all dishonorable," gloated Thrym. "You dare challenge me and now you only run? Heh. Run forever, flies! You will never escape this room. As soon as you tire of your game, I will find you. I will crush you."

"Silica," ordered Kirito. "Make him busy while I try to increase his cuts."

"Roger. Pina, ice breath."

Pina flew off of her master and straight at the giant's face, releasing the ice breath right in his eyes. Thrym flew in a rage, flailing his arms, trying to get the nuisance and its stinging cold out of his eyes. In the meantime Silica hacked away at his stomach.

Eventually, though, the two attackers stopped and stood back. A lot of the hacking so far only managed to deal only minimal damage. There was simply too much meat to butcher. They'll have to keep this up for at least two hours.

"We can't sustain this," said Kirito.

"Papa! Enemy ice breath!"

The giant finally put up a frightening face that arrested everyone, including Pina. He then looked as if he would vomit... and vomit he did! Cold fumes surged forth not unlike the spew of a massive volcanic eruption. They narrowly dodged the flow itself, but were knocked out and down to the floor by the sheer cold of the vapors accompanying. Klein was dismayed to see their hit meters already turning orange and about to go red.

Soon the fumes receded. When they have recovered, they were startled to see that there was something on Thrym's open palm. A block of crystallized ice. And frozen inside-

_"Pina!"_

Silica immediately took wing and rushed over to save her beloved pet. "No!" called out Kirito. "You can't-"

But she did. She landed on the giant's palm and grabbed her dragon with a hug. At once, the giant's hand closed into a fist...

**_"Silica!"_**

And they were now one more party member less.

Kirito covered his ears, as he couldn't close his all-too-shocked eyes, as if somehow in virtual reality, denying something would reverse it, undo it, as easy as on a word processor. But no Silica materialized, only bright pixels falling from that odious fist.

_"You will pay! You will pay! You will pay!"_

The boss made that derisive laugh again. "How pleasing it is to see the faces of those who lost their friends and hear their plaintive cries."

"You demon! You animal!"

All the while Klein was limp. He landed down on the floor with Freyja. He was not able to help his friends, not wanting to part from the girl. And now there was even less of what he can do. Klein, what's happening to you?

"It is my fault…" he wailed, looking down. "Kirito, forgive me..."

Just then a dainty little hand clasped his. "Fairy swordsman..."

He snapped out of his guilt and attended to Freyja, laying her down. "What is it?"

"You cannot defeat Thrym that way." She staggered up and managed to stand with Klein's help. She then cast a powerful thunder spell that hit Thrym on the head and left him screaming in pain covering his face. His hit bar went down a third in an instant.

"I…" she panted leaning against Klein. "I can't do this again."

She spied the distraught Kirito. "Swordsman!" she commanded.

The voice was so authoritative it compelled even a bereaved man. "We can't win!"

"Please seek Mjolnr. I'm sure Thrym kept it in the treasure pile. Please. Help me regain my family's honor. Use a lightning skill."

_Lightning skill..._

He remembered. "That's it. I should have known." He took out his own black sword out of its sheath and, with Calibur, struck the floor with both blades releasing a flurry of electrical discharge that led away to a certain spot. It was even more effective paired with Calibur. Calibur seemed to make every other weapon more powerful.

"Klein, over there!"

Only too happy to be of use, he bounded forth to the place the lightning hit and set to work at once, flinging away jewel after jewel like they were old socks. He found what they were looking for. A golden hammer.

"Mjolnr!"

He picked it up and tried to lift it. It was too heavy. But he was having exactly none of that. He pulled with all his might and flung the hammer away. "Freyja!"

The girl caught it squarely by the handle. Its weight meant nothing to her own slender arms. "At last."

Just then, her face stiffened and she started to groan. The groaning went on for some time, but it got much louder, and much worse later, and from there it only sounded more and more terrible. Klein couldn't believe his ears.

"F-Freyja! Don't tell me. You're already pregnant?! Are you giving birth?"

It could only go bad for poor little Klein. She grew larger and grew _muscles_, too. A thick cloud of icy smoke covered her. The groaning turned into that of a _hag, _and then into that of an angry _man._

In an earth-shaking spectacle of thunder and clouds, of manly screaming and rage, of broken dreams and dashed hopes, the cloud of smoke surrounding what had been Freyja towered into the darkness of the ceiling, and when it faded, it revealed a huge shadow that soon resolved itself into the appearance of a great bearded giant just like Thrym. A _man _giant.

Klein sank to his knees. "There, there," said Kirito. "You can one-up me some other time. For now, we must avenge Silica and the others. And restore them back!"

"Who's restoring Freyja?" he replied in anguish.

"Who's restoring your memories back to when you thought he was Freyja?" quipped Yui.

"Thrymr," said Thor, "you look no better than last time."

The King of Giants got up and faced him. "Heh. Doth mother know you weareth her drapes?" he sneered.

"You know who you're dealing with. Surrender now."

In the ensuing brawl, Thrym produced a short axe to parry Mjolnr, but parry it could not. The king got several hits from the hammer. One knocked his hit meter back by another third.

"You," he said to Kirito. "Fairy swordsman, who holds Calibur. Thrym has a curse to protect him. If he drops to one-third of his bar, for every hit he takes, his life actually _increases _by a tenth. This is why you were summoned here. We need to deal him a single powerful strike with the combined forces of Mjolnr and Calibur."

He raised the hammer and struck him with a bolt of lightning. But Kirito wasn't harmed, but rather grew, taller and taller, larger and larger, until he about the same size as Thor. Klein was floored yet again.

"Papa... Sugoi... You're so big!"

"I will avenge everyone you have slain, O king of frost," said Kirito.

Now giant Kirito stood side by side with giant Thor, raising their respective weapons at about shoulder level. Thrym would not let them get into attack formation, so he blasted out his strongest ice breath at the pair, a commotion so powerful it rattled the floor and tossed Klein and a number of treasures about, but it wasn't so troubling at their size. The assault was ineffective as the pair already had a powerful aura surrounding them, the product of the fusion of the forces of Calibur and Mjolnr.

"Now, dark lord," they said in unison, "Prepare to meet your end!"

"You think you can overpower me?" bluffed the enemy. "I am the mighty Thrymr, Guardian of the Realm of Jothunheimr, the true and rightful King!"

But forceful speeches and outrageous claims are poor substitutes for true power. The discharges of pure energy struck at the hall everywhere, toppling huge blocks of stone and whole pillars.

_Leafa. Lizbeth. Silica. Sinon... Asuna..._

_Wait for me... Please._

"Now, frost giant, die!"

The defiance in the king's face started to melt away in the face of overwhelming power. The light emanating from the pair could only grow brighter and brighter as they chanted the spell louder and louder. Now comes the strike.

"Scum of Aincrad!" said Thrym in a final spate of just being plain nasty, "you cannot defeat me! Away! Away!"

_"Devil King of Jothunheimr, return to bowels of the Earth!"_

The last thing Kirito saw of the devil king was the angry and at the same time aghast look on his face as he finally realized the moment of his doom...

... Just as the same face quickly retreated back in a shrinking polygon onscreen.

*DISCONNECTION*

The NerveGear's alarm beeped loudly as its red emergency light glared on as though offended by a long delay. It was indeed a delay. Kirito, while he was still fresh in despair over the team being blown away by the storm, neglected his body monitor menu that Yui kept reminding him about. Had he known, he would have seen that his blood nutrient levels were already way too low.

He hasn't eaten for almost two days now.

It took him enormous effort just to lift the Gear off his head, such that he was already panting lightly from the exertion. When he got up, an abrupt shock of weakness arrested his body and made him collapse back onto bed. This taser of hunger was so bad he actually struggled to get off the bed, and when he did, he dropped onto the floor with a loud thud. Fresh waves of pain swept through his head, but they were outweighed by the entirety of the rest of his body, demanding nourishment in lieu of a rumbling stomach that was long since silenced.

He saw the three boxes of veggie flakes on the sink.

And then, as suddenly as the shock of starvation came over him, a desperate resolve presented itself and condensed whatever remained of his bodily strength in a rampage of staggering onto his feet, lunging at the boxes, tearing them out spilling the contents on the floor, and jamming handful after handful of biscuit in his mouth in a mad frenzy.

Now that he has accomplished what he needed to do, his body slows, allowing him to collapse back onto the floor and relapse into a much-needed sleep.

* * *

The heat in the room was now getting unbearable as eight A.M. faded into nine. Kirito opened his eyes lazily through a mist of drowsiness. It would have been wonderful to go on sleeping, but discomfort prevailed on him.

He sat up and saw that the floor was a mess. Plenty of crumbs lay strewn at the foot of the sink. He mopped them all up with bare hands and finished them off with relish.

Now, his food supply is gone. Remembering how wonderful it felt after not eating for nigh two days, he was now bent on preventing a repeat of that at all costs. He stood up and got his coat from the hook beside the door. He wasn't so sure why he did it in this stifling heat. Probably because everybody else also wore some kind of coat. If you were too lazy to think for yourself, the crowd can do it for you for free.

He pushed the rusty door open with a loud racket of protesting corroded metal. As soon as he made the gap, a wave of searing heat assaulted him and drove him back for a moment. When he has recovered, he looked out onto the dilapidated vista of this sector of Tokyo in 2022.

This is the world of Kirigaya Kazuto, not the sylph warrior Kirito.

A few gleaming skyscrapers loomed in the background, contrasting sharply with the run-down apartments and medium-rise, abandoned office buildings lining the street where Kazuto's apartment stood. In the street below, throngs of shabbily-dressed people walked, as though it was a crossing on the Ginza on a weekday: truth to tell, the Ginza is everywhere in Tokyo these days. A number of cars were parked, but they have been there for about five years now, also abandoned, and from some of them came out people in tattered office suits. They were not drivers; they had been sleeping in there.

Kazuto went out to the balcony and traversed the walkway with some difficulty, as right in the middle a few makeshift shelters made out of used blankets were set up, into which blew the useless hot blast of wind from rusty fans that sported hastily-taped wiring. It was worse when he got to the stairs. His feet was trying to share space with all sorts of luggage dumped there, obviously by owners who slept there in the cool of night. After virtually months and months in Alfheim, logging out only for at most half an hour of mundane physical trivialities but still indoors, this was particularly disorienting and added to his difficulty balancing himself on the crowded stairs.

When he went down to the Ginza-like street, he noticed a number of oddities unique to the offline realm of Earth. Booths lined the street in a sort of perpetual festival, selling school uniforms for everyday wear (what with most schools closing), others sold crumbs of those same veggie flakes he was eating back at the apartment, for about 200 yen per pack. Yet others hawked wares fashioned from hacked-off lampposts and bracelets made from used tire. And there was also displayed a number of genuine jewelry, watches, functioning iPads, behind glass windows… From where they were procured was not mentioned and not important.

A number of shopping mothers had their little children leashed to them. Yes, leashed—some children tied at the wrists, a few outright collared at the neck like dogs. This was acceptable. There were no more dogs since about nine years ago, so there was nothing ungainly to compare to. And even if there were, expediency and convenience outweighed image on the teeming streets crawling with muggers seeking young organs…

The multitudes flowed in the general direction of a district plaza. The area usually was just littered with pedestrians, but today, the crowd was so thick nobody could move.

Kazuto remembered something. Today was a Tuesday.

Today the ward officials will distribute to the populace their weekly rations of those veggie flakes. Soylent Green.


	7. Zekken

Tokyo was the most populated city on earth, and in history. Today, the metropolis is even more populated. 86,000,000 were crammed within the Greater Metropolitan Area despite the fact that the city limits have actually shrunk, due to the diminishing of areas that are still somehow viable. The irony of it was that this immense growth happened right after a major war.

A nuclear holocaust transpired in 2000, eventually killing off a fifth of humanity. In Japan, close to at least a million were killed, and about 5,000,000 more were withered down by the effects of fallout and radiation, as well as environmental destruction. With much of the country devastated, people clung to the cities for hope. When a terrible mecha war erupted in 2015, much of the outlying cities were reduced to rubble, and the overwhelming majority of Japan's remaining 92,000,000 (from pre-fallout 120 million) chose to move to the final refuge of Tokyo.

Today multiple queues have formed in front of the long tables manned by a legion of riot police. Two scoops each of the miracle food Soylent Green, made from high-energy "plankton of the Seas of the Rising Sun" filled a bag for each individual. Kazuto was daunted by the masses of people that stood between him and his nourishment. No way he's going through the torture of falling in line. There's got to be another way.

"Everybody please keep the line," called out an officer over a speaker. But the unrest could not be kept down. It looked as if the slightest brawl could immediately erupt into a riot. He tried to figure out a safe path of escape just in case. He started to look around for some suitable back alley.

About an hour later, the giveout ran into a difficulty. The short delay gradually lengthened into five minutes, and then ten, then fifteen. It seems the distribution has grossly underestimated the turnout for today. Soon enough, the numerous complaints got louder and turned into curses.

There's but one way to deal with this. "The supply of Soylent Green has ran out for today," announced the officer.

A general clamor arose among the crowd. "But it's Tuesday!"

"We deeply regret it, but you must wait for next Tuesday for your rations."

"You will not mess with us! Today is Tuesday!"

"My child cannot wait another two days! You are criminals!"

"You're keeping a truckload for yourselves!"

And a host of other angry voices jumbled and cascaded into a general cacophony not unlike the roaring of an oncoming wave. The tide started to push forward and overwhelm the officers, toppling the tables and trampling them (along with some unfortunate people who slipped) underfoot. They tried to hide behind the hastily-formed shield-barricade, but the tsunami of starved flesh and bone was unstoppable. The riot squad was pressed against walls, breaking windows and door and choking human beings even in the midst of the disordered crowd. They broke out in a rampage of looting that rapidly spread out to the streets leading out of the plaza. A gunshot was fired from somewhere, and in the sheer density of the throng, it surely hit someone, but it was just as certainly ineffective in containing the mob. Kazuto has heard it coming, and clambered onto a nearby fire ladder and watched as the surge of violence passed below him.

Now the authorities are not taking anymore of this. A special troop of clearers was called in, the "scoops." Their job was exactly as they were called. Oversized bulldozers, they formed a line at the entrance to the square and moved in unison to pick up as many of the rioters as they could, and dump them into a vault-secure compartment jampacked with flesh and bone. Soon the riot turned into a feeding frenzy for the machines, harvesting load after load of people.

Kazuto watched as a crush of rioters escaping the scoops were jammed in the narrow alley, blocked by a wave of more escaping people up ahead. To his amazement, a scoop appeared, and with expert handling, pushed into the lane only wide enough for the scoop to barge in, and catch a huge chunk off of the crowd. Struck with fear, he quickly climbed up and up, grabbing onto the next ladder, climbing, climbing, grabbing, climbing again, not bearing to look down... not wanting to know if a policeman was coming after him... or if a gun is pointed at him... climbing and climbing as long as there were rungs to hold on to.

He found himself on a flat rooftop. He negotiated the maze of twisted, rusting pipes and smoke vents, and found a view of the plaza at the other end. The scoops lumbered about like toy cars, though, moving about amidst so many, rather better compared with massively grotesque orange reptiles feeding on insects. He could clearly make out the bodies of those who were crushed in the earlier stampede, blood oozing out into the pavement. These too, the scoops took along with the living. It was a twistedly glorious mess.

* * *

Kazuto spent the rest of the day sneaking into open windows and taking whatever he could find. He managed to pilfer four more boxes of those veggies, as well as some limited-edition trading cards, even a PSP. Cool. Quite a number of windows were shuttered; they were more likely to be VR gamers. It looks like Alfheim's over for him. He has no idea how Kayaba would 'hunt down' everybody now that he lost the battle with the frost king. But if Asuna and the rest could not go back to the game, he will have to look for them in the real world. But first, he must find a way to crack their identity.

"I-It's true!" said the player nervously while he aimed the guy's own kitchen knife at his throat. It was rather easy to bodily subdue his victim as the man hasn't eaten and he did; ambushing proved to be the more difficult task. he got around it by cutting off the wire that led into his apartment, shutting down his NerveGear and prompting him to check outside for the cause of the outage.

"Are you 100% sure she can hack databases? Even ALO's?"

"Of course!" The fellow was now hysteric. "She isn't Zekken for nothing! Master swordsman in ALO, master hacker IRL!"

_Sinon sure has a lot of her kind. _"How come I haven't heard of her?"

"It was about a year since she's gone from ALO. She's become... I don't know... But I hear she's now living in that mansion at Kitagawa, near Roppongi."

"I need a complete address. _And her real name!"_

* * *

In the end, he didn't get the name; it was a bit asking too much for a gamer to casually know another gamer who wasn't an acquaintance. But the guy did give a detailed description of her appearance, and the address was certain down to the street. Finding the exact house shouldn't be too hard. It was the only dwelling of that size in the area.

There were fewer vagrants in that street. The houses also had tight security: electric fences and barbed wire, though all of them were dark and deserted. they were probably just rental properties of the rich. But Zekken's mansion had a single light upstairs.

"Hey!" he hollered. He made such a racket that the few street people sleeping on the road got up and cursed him. Not the least disturbed was the woman of the house who opened the window. "I am going to call the police! Scram!"

He had a good look at the lady. Even from afar, it was obvious that she has only turned eighteen. The dark hair also fit the guy's description to a T.

"I'm going to call right now!"

"Wait! I'm from Alfheim!"

* * *

Kazuto kept looking around and pinching the soft down of his couch. Reality check. It was amazing to him that just mentioning the A-word transports you to another world, without even a NerveGear, if you had some good acquaintances. Nearly the entire wall at the far end of the expansive living room was _glass. _From the outside the panel was simply as gray as the rest of the walls. This quality of tinted glass could only be afforded by a bigwig. So is the cup of hot, _actual _latte steaming in his hands.

"So, you're a boss now? I mean, a company boss?"

She gave a little teasing smile, that type that keeps you guessing. Her lip gloss was light, her foundation subtle. Her hair had no special treatment he could tell, probably just shampoo, but it flowed generously and full-bodied. She always made it a point to wear that light makeup everyday even at home, but never to put on more than that. "No, just better." She sipped from her own cup of caramel frappuccino. "Who wants to be burdened by pesky rank and file? my man is, sort of. He's into some kind of contracting and shipping thing."

"Ooh. How long you been married?"

She let out a sparkling laugh that belonged to a ten-year-old. "No, man. I'm furniture."

He wasn't quite getting her.

She laughed again, a shorter version. "I mean I come with the house. A few men occupied this place for a while, but this mansion was then purchased by Kuzuki Ken."

She comes with the house? "Wait. You mean you're stuck in here? That must be terrible."

She let a playful smile form on her lips, which amounted to a half-sneer. "Tell me, kid. Where would you want to get stuck? In here, or out there?"

The question caught him right off the bat. He felt so dumb for asking.

"Well, then," she said rubbing his hair, "Why don't ya get stuck in here for a bit? That dandy?"

He couldn't believe his ears. "W-Why... Why... I'd be messed up if I refuse!" He couldn't keep that smile down, either.

She giggled indulgently at his antics. "You can sleep at the guest room. Downstairs."

Kazuto's smile faded instantly. He was expecting a bit much after she let him in with only her in the house.

She caught his disappointment with a knowing smile. "You want to sleep in a regular bedroom? Don't worry, the guest room's as spacious as any in here, and the furnishings are first class, also. If you have to insist on sleeping like you own the house, there's another master's bedroom down the hall from mine."

"No, no," he quickly denied. "I-I'm used to sleeping in a run-down apartment, anyway. Anywhere would be fine."

"But you have had such luxurious amenities in Alfheim, am I right? You must be quite pampered in your tastes."

"Hey, wait!" He was a bit sensitive in front of this girl's teasing. "Why are you chewing me out on that? Aren't you from ALO, too?"

Another princess's laugh. Yuuki was expert in dealing men a one-two punch with laughing and teasing, much like her skill in virtual swordsmanship. She supremely enjoyed the look of discomfort on the guy's face.

"I think I should go now," Kazuto said standing up. "Sorry for being a bother."

"No," she said pulling his hand. He was arrested by the softness of her own hand and the fine feel of her skin. "Please sit down."

Now she decided to go easy. "Now that you mentioned it, I had a really good time in Alfheim. Heh. I would challenge people to a duel every afternoon and no one ever won against me, for 78 straight matches! And then, this fellow came along… Heath… Heath… Oh Heathever! He came and challenged me, and couldn't win, too, but while I called for a break so I can talk to my teammate for a bit, he hit me while I wasn't looking!

"Tch. Game dev said it wasn't against the rules, but I always insisted on a straight win." Sigh. Anyways, right after that, I woke up someplace and then some guys told me I'd be living here. Not that it's too bad now. Got used to it." She paused to take in a pill she got from her pocket. "Hey, can you cook? Or maybe just get something from the fridge and microwave it."

He got up and went over to a large supercooler that occupied an entire panel in a recess at a corner of the living room. He was amazed at the sheer volume and variety of _real _food. He stood there stunned for a good while until a hand poked at his head.

"Hey. Get on with! My bill's going up if you don't shut that door."

After he had finished preparing dinner, an ample spread of beef ribs, rimmed with plump tomatoes and lettuce he had doused in hot water from its freeze-dried state, Kazuto started to greedily tear into the luscious meal. After so much bland flakes, the delightfulness of fresh food far outweighed any of the niceties of courtesy in another house.

But Yuuki hasn't taken a bite. She just kept staring at her plateful. He noted with some resentment that she was way too used to the good life that she could afford to snub this kind of meal. However, he was startled when she started to sob.

"Wha- H-Hey, I didn't cook it bad, OK? You told me I'd only put it in the microwave."

She didn't hear him. She was weeping now. Slathering her open palm on her face like a kid. "Oh my," she choked. "My foundation's ruined."

"Are you the type to cry when you don't like what's on the table? You're too stuck-up."

"No, idiot," she said still hiccupping. "I remembered my family."

He fell silent. "Where are they?"

She just shook her head. He took it to mean they must have been killed in the war. "Ma and I used to share this kind of meal with my sister when we were small. There was still some fresh produce hoarded somewhere that time, sold at a high price. Now, everything's gone." She wiped some more tears. "Ma used to tell me how beautiful this Earth was back in the day." She broke down again. "What have we gone to?" she whined.

She immediately took three more pills from her pocket and swigged it down with a whole bottle of water till she coughed. She lay there for a moment, and soon fell silent.

"You're taking food pills rather than eat this?"

"No, dummy." She managed a smile. "Calming pills." She wiped her face one last time and perked up. "Come on! Don't let this get cold!"

* * *

Kazuto decided to sleep in the guest room instead of taking his chances with Yuuki after seeing her tear up. Maybe, if he could return before the man of the house does, he would get his left the house while Yuuki was asleep, taking with him a few bars of real chocolate from the fridge without telling her.

Once again he found himself in those thronged streets. Some old radio music was crackling out on used speakers, which only added to the noise rather than lift anyone's mood. Nobody was talking about yesterday's disaster. They were used to that. It wasn't worth talking about. However, the crowd was somewhat more subdued. No wonder the radio sounded so loud. The people weren't pitching in much of their own noise this time. Maybe the scoops only picked up rioters and spared those quiet-types who won't trouble the higher-ups so long as they get their greens.

Speaking of radio, he tried to listen in if DJ Crystal was up. He knew people who died in the Tournament were forever banned from the game, But it seems she's nowhere IRL, either. Maybe the station fired her for playing too much? Maybe the station itself had folded, too? But why would a jock as popular as her be kicked off the air?

"Come with us to a Brave New World!" blared the radio.

_What. _

That tagline. It was an advertisement for…

"Sign up with us and experience the Alfheim universe! Alfheim Online! Accepting new players for a brand new quest!

_Brand new?_

_What the…_

"Distributing free NerveGear and batteries. Guaranteed connection! Free backup electric plants for the first 50 applicants!"

_It can't be!_

He rushed off through the crowds, elbowing, jostling, vaulting fences, clearing open man-holes. _I forgot to ask Yuuki-san to hack into the databases! _He remembered that Klein was still in the game. He must get to him really fast. Or was he killed by the frost king? Did he escape?

In his haste he crashed into a trash bin and disturbed a number of junkers digging into the garbage. When he came to, he was being hauled up by an angry scavenger and punched in the face. But he punched back and knocked him flat; his sword skills translated to fist power in real life. The other junkers engaged him and they had a short brawl. He doesn't have the time to keep this up so bounded off at once and made them chase after him. He jumped and cleared a few more fences, and he could no longer hear them following. But he took no chances and kept running.

He arrived at the apartment still tense and breathing in short, rushed spurts. He hastily ran the access card of his unit over the slot. _Cursed slot! Give, will ya? _The wicked thing must have broken down, too, like everything else. But on his nth try, an acknowledgement beep rang and he was able to open the creaking door. He can't be at ease until that door is locked snugly behind him.

He quickly donned the NerveGear. The old thing took about five minutes to boot. Maybe he should get a new unit from those 'free NerveGears?'

_Link start._

What?

**SIGN UP! Please enter your information: Full Name, Address, Birthday.**

Oh yes. 'Brand new quest.' That, and the fact that he got kicked out of the game at just the right moment meant he must re-open a completely new account.

Finally, he got things going again. He re-appeared in Alfheim inside the bedroom of the cabin he and Asuna bought long ago. But, wait! The windows were boarded up. What the...

He went over to the mirror to check his avatar if anything funny has happened to it. Nope. Fine, so far. He looked the same as always. But he was wearing a tattered cape, making him look like one of those Laughing guys.

_Hold on. Am I one of them now?_

He rushed to get out of the house, but the door was barred. _What in Aincrad is happening? _He tried to open the door, but after a while of tiring, futile effort it became obvious to him that it was also boarded up on the outside. Kayaba was putting up his house for grabs!

_Heeeeeeahhhhh!_

He crashed his sword against the door but could not budge it in one piece. He had to hack some more to produce a large enough opening for himself. It was time-consuming, no to say that he hated to break his own door. Yeah, it's my door, _'coz this is my house!_

He was shocked when he got outside. Was he back in that frozen Jothunheimr? The trees were all leafless skeletons. The sky was as dark and gray as that underworld. Wait. If he had lost that battle with the frost king, that means he would... What was that? Invade Alfheim? He already did? Well, it was getting colder. No wonder he had such a thick cape...

His sharp hearing picked up some rushing footsteps somewhere. He ran off and found himself along a road where a lot of similarly caped people hurried forth, and some of them even on horseback. Suddenly a menu appeared in front of him. _Brave warrior. The world of Alfheim needs you. The King of the Giants will emerge from the underworld in two days. His servants the ice rats are spreading the chill everywhere. Eliminate them before they freeze our world completely and pave the way for the King of the Giants!_

An ax materialized in his hand. Even after the menu explained everything, he was still at a loss at what was happening. This was so drastic a change from the Alfheim he grew with all along for over a year now, and the system was already pushing him into a quest immediately. No, he's not going to fight just yet. He needs to get a hang of things. He joined the crowd to watch from the sidelines.

They arrived at a deep valley where a skeleton of a forest stood and a river was already freezing over. All of a sudden the party of players he was running with broke into a rampage as they rushed down the valley and he had to keep pace. He stopped short of the river and climbed a tree to observe.

_Yat! _Something crawled up on him in a blink and passed on to the top of a high branch. He turned see what it was: An ice rat! It actually looked less of a dirty rat than some kind of new and beautiful critter: It had a rich, glossy coat of bluish fur, and its eyes gleamed like a polished cerulean gem. He almost wanted to pet it.

From his vantage point he could see pixels flying everywhere, cries and whoops sounding, the thwack and clang of blades striking, against tree, against rock, against rat. The valley was a killing field. Everybody seemed to be having a frenzied contest of who killed the most rats.

The tree he was perching on shook violently. A clutch of three players were jostling each other to climb the tree and get at the prize at the top branch. He wanted to shoo them off as the withered thing won't seem to hold out under the extra weight. However, the three players started to punch each other and for a moment he was unmolested. Maybe he could get at the thing himself. Unless, it jumped, which he didn't think it would from that height, the rat was ripe for the picking.

He crept up to the top branch holding the ax with his teeth. The creature, as expected, did not move and looked very frightened. It started to squeak in alarm. He got it now. It wouldn't squeal so much if it saw the slightest gap of escape. He stared it in eye thinking to hold it down further with a paralyzing stare, or so he thought. Can he put up a freezing stare? Would it work against a rat? He was being silly, knowing he is sure to win.

To his surprise, the rat stared back at him.

Then he saw. The eye, which had seemed to be a blank, polished surface, now revealed under its glossy layer, the features of a human eye!

Its gaze was pleading at him not to kill.

He suddenly remembered what Kayaba exactly said if they lost that round against Thrym. The rest of Aincrad will be hunted down. So, it has come to this.

"Wait!" he said anxiously to the rat. "Do you know Klein? Where's Klein?"

The tree again shook violently, and when he has recovered, the rat was gone. He turned about to look for it, and found it on the ground below, pinned down by a player's foot. The rat squeaked helplessly before it was impaled in the head by the pointed end of the player's staff.

The rat's death fragments reached up to him. He caught a few pieces, as if doing so will revive the thing, but it did nothing but fade away into nothing. There was no hope now. There was no hope anywhere.

_"You fools!" _he yelled at the top of his lungs. _"Murderers! The rats are people! Curse you! Curse you all!"_

* * *

Kirito lay prone on the tree branch in abject despair for the rest of the whole day. Even after he managed to logged out, he lay on the bed with the NerveGear still on his head, unmindful of the tears streaming down to his bedsheets. He kept uttering curses at the players. At Kayaba. At this sick game.

There was nothing to return to. VR was sick. RL was worse. The mind found no refuge anywhere. Perhaps it would be for the best if he just lay there on bed and let himself starve to death. At least he'd be dying in his own room.

Or maybe he could get to those suicide clinics in Chiyoda.

Or he could just go to Ropponggi. It was much closer.


	8. An Aria of Two

At around seven P.M. Kazuto locked the door of his apartment behind him taking with him a few changes of clothes. He didn't want to think yet how long he would be staying there. Probably days, weeks... As long as the man of the house hasn't arrived.

It was considerably more difficult for him to use the stairs now. The street people have returned to their sleeping places on the stairways and a few were sitting back against the railing, drunk. Worse yet, further down the stairs, all of the steps were completely occupied by vagrants.

He estimated the height from where he was down to the street, and decided he could jump. He took the railing and vaulted over, and a moment later he landed... on his toes, sending a shock of pain up his entire body, whereupon he fell down in a heap. It was a near-perfect jump from that height, but his skills from VR did not translate 100% to the real world.

He chose to take an obscure back alley where there were no vagabonds. This passage had once been covered by a chain-link gate that for some reason, perhaps a freak accident, got a major dent that afforded a gap only big enough for a single person to squeeze in. The space it afforded him was a refreshing reprieve from the crowding, allowing him to run and cutting down his travel time by about twenty minutes.

But someone's running after him as well.

A sense of dread immediately seized him at the unexpected turn of events. So someone has also found out about this alley? Maybe just now? They probably turning it into a hideout. _Keep running, Kirito._

* * *

Yuuki poured out a fresh brew for her unexpected but welcome visitor. However, she wondered if she should have just given him something else to drink, seeing his shaking hands, and noticing those eyes that constantly averted hers and clung to the window, hiding his panic.

"Aren't you hungry?" she said. "Come on, man, you gotta eat."

"I'll be fine," he said nervously. "Get me anything. Even those cheap veggie bits."

She laughed. "You're still looking for that Soylent trash? You're exactly as cheap as you say they are."

He tensed up. It was easy when you just went through something. "It's easy for you to bluff about something I and a thousand thousand others absolutely die for everyday. In my world," throwing at her the contrast in the most sarcastic words he could spit out at the moment, "you don't turn down high-energy plankton just like that."

Chuckle. "My dear Kazuto," she said rubbing his head. "If a box of cereal advertises itself as made of soybeans and lentils, and, in the same box, plasters on something about being made from plankton, that should make you get your thinking cap for a moment, now, don't you think?"

"..."

"Hm? You still not cheered up at my pick-up line?"

"..."

"Heh. You got mugged. Right?"

"You're laughing about someone getting mugged?"

"Why shouldn't I? Everybody's used to that already. _I _would mind a lot if I were held up in the streets, but you, what can you give them?"

He was stung by that remark, but tried not to show it. "Well... I got... organs."

She now laughed openly and loudly. "You sure have a lot of confidence in your own filthy body, huh?" Kazuto felt like hitting her for a moment, but he was arrested by a sudden soft touch on his wrist. "Actually," she said in a somewhat deeper voice, "I like people with confidence. You don't find many guys like that these days. Bluffs, maybe. But not men who truly believe in their own worth."

"I should wonder if it's still worth believing in any sort of worth."

"All the more you should. If you have lost everything, then the only thing you have left is your own nerve to rely on yourself."

She once again took out the medicine and chugged own about four pills, with relish. She lay back on her couch and took out something else. A box. When flipped the top of it, Kazuto was stunned to see what she took out of it.

"You... You smoke?"

"Hm? You got an issue with that?" Cough. From the looks of it, she was quite new to the habit. "Oh yes, fairy fans like you wouldn't think the great master Zekken of elfland would smoke, now, do you?" Laugh. "Grow out of your bedtime stories, you."

Kazuto face hardened at this, and he turned away from her, hiding his anger at her belittling his game. She didn't mind, busy as she was getting the hang of her smoke, finally starting to feel some pleasure. If he didn't want to talk to her, it was his loss.

"Actually," he suddenly said. "One does not outgrow memories."

"Hm?" What is he blowing about this time? She kept reveling in the fresh draft of smoke filling her windpipe. Nothing mattered in the world to her right now. Some sentimental fellow getting dramatic was not worth her time. But then she finally regarded him, gazed at him, when he started to sob.

"It's so hard to lose everyone you love," he said in tears. "Asuna..."

Yuuki's gaze began to show some interest. "She's your girl? You lost a girl?"

His fists hardened into knuckles as his expression turned sour. "She isn't just a _girl! _I love her!" He rubbed his arm in the face. "Have you not lost a family, also? Or is it alright for you to make light of someone's else's misfortune, grief which is not yours?

"Honey," she replied, "you know I'm not that kind of girl." Suddenly her hands shook, feebly at first, as if confused whether it should also curl into a fist or just go limp, and then finally she broke into tears herself. "Mama..." But she buried it in a frantic long draught, as if she was trying to fill herself with the pleasing gas, until she ended up in a rage of coughing and panting. She jammed her spent cigarette on the ashtray and put the pack back in her pocket. "I guess that would enough for now."

She stood up and ambled over to him, and slapped him behind the shoulder, so hard it jolted the sorrow out of him. "Watch it!" he complained suddenly mad.

Teasing laugh. "We're both pathetic, you know that?" She kissed him lightly on the lips, further startling him, and the shock of both the slap and the kiss made him completely forget that he was even crying just a moment ago. When she was through, she chuckled, he joined, and they both laughed.

She ended up leaning against him on the sofa, an arm of his around her as they listened to classical music, just relaxing, not minding anything, flushing out everything that plagued them with unhappiness until now. They needed a break.

And Kazuto wanted a little more... after that first light peck. He bent down and touched, then dug, into her lips and they made out for a short while, until she tired of it and pushed him gently away.

"H-Hey," he complained softly. "I thought you were used to that!"

She shook her head slowly. "I don't think you should get involved with a furniture girl."

He felt his anger surge in him. "I'm the man in the house right now!" he erupted.

"Look, you better listen..."

"You think I'm a simple boy to be told what to do?"

"Yes," she said, once again arresting him with a caress on his chest. He always felt something inadequate about his chest. What did she find there? Or was she making him believe she did? "You're a simple boy. 'Cause I'm a simple girl. We need each other." She teased his lips with a kiss which was something like skimming ice cream. "You must believe me when I say that your being here by my side is more than I can ever ask for."

Before he could protest she landed a few more gentle smooches on his lips, meant to soothe rather than arouse, whilst holding him in tantalizing gaze in order to stop him from having further ideas. When she has finished, making sure that Kazuto has completely settled, she lay against his side and caressed his hand tenderly.

"You can't imagine what it's like for me in here, all alone half of the time except with painful memories. Believe me, please, when I tell you you're the only man who came here looking for my exact name. You might not understand how flattering that is to a girl, much less a girl like me."

She took out an entire wad of medication from an inner breast pocket and flaunted it before Kazuto. "Before you came, I wouldn't have imagined living without these. You know, I thought for a bit if I could throw these away, just because I have you now, but..." She toyed around with the sheet before she opened her mouth again, and it took another few moments before she actually formed the words. "... Why do you have to leave?" she finally voiced to herself.

He was starting to doze off. Satisfied, she sat up and straightened his jacket, as well as his hair which has fallen out in sensuous locks and lent him such a fascinating rugged air that it held her in thrall for a bit. "Kazuto," she whispered, glad that she could talk to him when he was already too calmed to react, hoping that perhaps her words would reach him somehow. "I do wish we could keep doing this."

She wished she could take her kisses and caresses all the way, but she thought involving him in herself wouldn't work. It didn't really work with any of the men who have used her, so how could it with him?

* * *

Kirito stood before Thrym, the King of the Frost Giants, smiling very broadly, putting out the most insultingly confident expression he could flaunt before the enemy. The giant's façade of ferocity seemed to chipped off a bit as confusion crept in his eyes. With Kirito was whole team: Klein, the samurai, holding on to his custom blade. Lizbeth, sporting a smug lopsided grin and holding a huge mace with a sharp point. Silica, arms raised wide off to the sides as with a falcon ready to fight, dagger in hand, Pina also stretching his dragon wings and staring at the enemy with killer instincts. Leafa, holding a sword nearly as large as his Elucidator. Asuna, hands outstretched, wielding a mage's staff, glowing with fields of aura preparing to cast a very powerful spell.

Excalibur's blade glowed in his grip, reflecting Asuna's brightness.

The undine will be the first to act, projecting an effect that will paralyze the giant whilst endowing the party with greater striking power. This could well be the most critical element in their attack.

For only a very short moment he stole a glance at her, and then he could not look away anymore. She was standing within a shining sphere, bathing her in a brilliance that lighted her rich, flowing mane with a golden halo, gleaming off her flawless bare skin of her supple figure.

Asuna herself was shimmering.

Kirito was overawed by the beauty of his girl. His feelings for her so overpowered him his grip shook, and his throat was caught. Perhaps, this battle would be over for him before it could start. Her magic was so strong it paralyzed _him._

So much so, he completely lost track of everything around him. He did not see the faces of his teammates slowly being overshadowed with dread as they stared in growing fear at the frost king. Only when Asuna's aura started to falter did he snap out of it and turned round. He saw the giant, its face massively bloated by something it was building up.

Suddenly Thrym released a powerful surge of icy blast like the breaking of a dam. The flash flood of wind caught the team before they could even think of lifting their feet, but Kirito had enough presence of mind to duck under his jacket. The garment was completely frozen over. When he doffed it off, with considerable effort, it fell hard on the floor and split in two. He saw all of his teammates turned into pillars of bluish crystalline ice. And Asuna…

_"Asuna!"_

The giant blew another strong icy wind, this time shattering all of his teammates into fragments of ice and shining pixels, carrying all of them away to an open window of the boss room, out into the bleak, unforgiving sky of Jothunheimr. His entire world whirled around wildly in a confusion of ice, pixels, his own anguished screams as the snowstorm flung him farther and farther away, faster and faster. Without the elephant-creature Tonkii, he cannot fly in this height and so he will plummet to his death on the icy ground of the realm of deathly cold.

Kazuto was caught on the sofa with a blanket, in a fit of moaning and tears. When he finally opened his eyes, he groped around his head for the NerveGear, only to find that there was none. Seeing this, he lashed out in a howl of pain as he clutched the naked head bereft of any means to go back to that world where his team was.

He spent the rest of the night awake and gazing after an absent Asuna on the ceiling, in an agony of burning, raging emptiness. A man could only tolerate so much, so he dragged himself off the sofa, and towards the master's bedroom.

The hallway was drenched in a thick shadow of darkness, lightened only by a row of dim lamps lining the corridor, lending only enough light for him to make out the outlines of walls and doors. It seemed like about half an hour for him to traverse the whole length of the way, whether from the size of the house or the illusion played out on his eyes by the succession of lamps he wasn't sure. But when he saw a certain door, larger than the rest, he was certain.

It wasn't locked.

The door opened smoothly without any noise. The room was lit by the same dim brightness that illuminated the hallway, and at first he could not see her in the near-darkness shading the bed. But when he came closer, he spied full womanly curves accentuating the silken blankets.

The sheets slid off smoothly as he carefully pulled it off the bed. He was stunned by what was revealed. Yuuki wore no underwear beneath the nightgown. Full breasts were covered, but not hidden by the furs, and her cleavage was inviting. Her legs were exposed, revealing a milky-white complexion up to the thighs. If he can't be with Asuna anymore…

He first touched those thighs. Working his way up with his fingers, he woke her up and made her stir feebly. When he heard her rouse, he lay himself full-length onto the bed beside her and took a piece of her neck into his sucking mouth. Yuuki stared down at the man and watched with a sort of detached interest, as though it was just an interesting erotic video, as Kazuto explored her inch by inch up to her cheeks.

Now with greater interest, she reached out weakly and started to grope him, as well. She admired the muscles that were starting to define his back. They weren't tough like the older men's, to be sure, but the fresh quality of it that promised robust growth was a delightful change.

When he turned to her chest, however, she only gazed absently after him. His face, and his tongue, was slithering down the base of her neck…

She took his arms and gently pushed him off of her.

"What…?" he whispered, not quite understanding the sudden change.

"That… would do… dear… We gotta rest."

"…"

"Come on, now. You can sleep at my feet if want to. Come on, let's get a nice shut-eye."

He muttered something garbled by the muffling of his mouth against her skin, but it didn't sound too happy.

"Let's have some lovely dreams together, shall we now?"

All of a sudden he grabbed her arms and clamped down on them with a grip that wanted to tear into her skin. "Hey!" she cried out. "What's your problem?"

"Dreams!" yelled Kazuto with rage in his eyes, frightening Yuuki. "I don't want any more of such painful illusions! I want you. I want this world. I want to be happy in this world! I want _real happiness in the real world!"_

When the fear on her face started to contort into anger, his bravado broke down into bawling. "Why can't you love me?" he demanded. "You took me this far, is it fair of you to throw me away like that!"

For only a moment a glint of regret graced her hard stare, but then she knew the two of them could never be. "Let me tell you, pretty boy," she said with a smirk. "You're quite scrawny for my taste. You would have been somewhat OK if I haven't tasted _men, _but…"

He let out a forceful slap that sent her head off to the side, but she sent it back even more forcefully. And her expression was even more maddening. "You should have known better than for a sixteen year old to go after an experienced woman much older than him."

"I don't care if I'm immature for you! You only think of good bodies to play with… But I can _love_ faithfully. Abidingly. Passionately! You would never give me a chance!"

"Oh? So a lover as faithful as you actually deserve a chance?"

"What—" He was thrown off.

"You have completely given up on Asuna, haven't you?"

A shock slowly dawned on his face. "H-How did you know?" He shook her violently. "Tell me! Why did you eavesdrop on my privacy? How?"

"How? Have you forgotten I am a hacker? I surmised from the very moment you showed up that you might be wanting information. Why else would a total outsider come to this place looking exactly for me? For Zekken? So I did some homework in advance."

His jaw was starting to quiver.

"But I was really flattered, above all, that you should even look for me by name. Even if I know you'll only be using me, too." A soft chuckle. "As a database, anyway. And I was truly interested in you."

"Then love me! Love me! I will stay with you for the rest of my life. I am yours forever."

"It's a bit strange to talk about a lifetime for someone who haven't spent much of a length of time with his girl."

"Asuna and I were in a relationship for two years."

"Versus ten? Twenty? Sixty? You just said you can love for the rest of your life. Unless you're ending it in divorce. Heh. It's the rule with all the rich people, so why not?

"See, what we have here in this world are pastimes. Not relationships."

"Asuna was taken from me. You don't understand."

"Then look for her!" Her eyes started to well up. "Do everything for her! How can you be her man until you prove to yourself that you can carry her for the rest of your life in this sick, hard world? Love her before you have her!"

He grabbed a sedative pill from a drawer to make her go limp, and tried to force it on her, prying her mouth open with one hand while he struggled to get the thing in with the other. Yuuki's growing weakness was helping him. But she had one last gambit.

She reached for something under her pillow and took it out. A NerveGear. She brought the big, hard thing down on his head.

"Ow!"

But someone as mad as him is not to be deterred by a simple whack. He returned to force-feeding her the pill, this time much more forcibly.

_"Eahhhh!"_

Kazuto jerked back instantly and very nearly fell off the bed. He was astonished to see Yuuki, panting heavily, aim the _inside _of the Gear directly at him, as if some laser blast could fire out of it.

_Or could it? What was that that had jolted me just now?_

"Look, pretty boy. I can hack hardware, too. Step one inch closer..."

"No. It's impossible!"

"Not with the mighty Zekken. This NerveGear has a nasty little thing the devs hid from everyone else. They should have known that the backup battery's hyperamp storage wasn't really meant to ride out a week-long outage.

"The NerveGear circuits were set up in a way that circles around the head exactly like the helmet of an electric chair, and has points that lie directly over key nodes in the brain. The same points that transmit data across the interface are also very ideal entry gates for electrical pulses.

"I just discovered that the pulses can be adjusted, as well. All I did was tweak it a bit so more current could shoot out. So this NerveGear can tickle, shock, paralyze, or outright kill."

_Kill?_

_So that means my team…_

_Is that why that voice told me never to die in a Tournament?_

"You lie!" yelled Kazuto. "Why would a game dev try to kill their customers?"

_Why indeed?_

But he was instantly troubled by a few random recollections. The radio ad did blare out an offer of _free _NerveGears. What game company would give away consoles like that?

"You don't realize," said Yuuki. "There are more than enough people to sell to. So much people, they would profit even if they aren't paid!"

_How are they going to profit if they have no money income? _All this cryptic talk was getting on his nerves so he grabbed Yuuki by the leg and tried to yank her off the bed. In the ensuing struggle, she lost her grip on the NerveGear, making it roll onto the edge of the bed. He was quick to dive after it, and then aim it at the suddenly terrified lady.

"Y-You don't know which button to press!" she managed trying to bluff.

"It won't hurt to try." He chanced upon a red switch he hasn't seen before on any NerveGear; obviously, it was crafted by Yuuki herself. When he pressed it, powerful sparks burst forth from within the Gear. Even he was amazed at how much power the helmet actually had. She was already paling in fright.

"Well, now," said Kazuto. "I have a lot to ask you."

"I-I know nothing!" she pleaded desperately. "You have to believe me!"

"You know that this thing can kill and yet you don't bother to find out if your former teammates are being murdered? Are you that rotten now?"

"It's been two years since I left Alfheim! Please!"

"Are they really murdering people?" he demanded. "How many? Why do they want to?"

Yuuki's face hardened with bitterness. "You live everyday with cursed scoops picking up man and child without regard and now rant about people getting killed in a game?"

He forced the Gear onto her head and bound her hands behind her even as she trembled. "Well, I think we must find out. Maybe your sugardaddy knows."

"What does he care?" she wailed, half-sobbing.

"Come on," he said making her get off the bed in her nightgown. "We have a little poking around to do."

* * *

Out here in the streets, a lady walking around in a silken bedroom dress graced with fine and lovely prints is a staggering sight. Indeed, much more unusual than the fact that she is being held hostage. The few vagrants still awake gagged when they saw the sumptuously-dressed girl, and secretly wanted to get a hold on her themselves.

"How far is it from here?" said Kazuto.

"I'm not sure," she said, still nervous. "About two hours on foot. Maybe."

"So," he sneered. "We will probably have to use the tram."

"I do wish, if only there's still a coach running at this hour."

"Shut up!" he yelled. "I don't want any sassy rich-girl complaints from you. You're in my world!"

And clam up she did, all the way down the streets for about half an hour. By the end of it, he allowed her to sit for a while on a pipe while he surveyed the avenue fronting them. It was wide, but a lot of run-down cars were parked everywhere along the whole length of the road. He wouldn't want any nasty surprises from anyone who might be lurking from behind or inside one of those.

"Hey. Ojou. Isn't there another way to that warehouse you're talking about?"

"I don't know anyplace else. I went with Kuzuki once, and this is the only route I remember."

"If we run into any grunts out here," he bluffed, "I'll leave you behind and look for that shack myself." Not that he really meant it. The lady took him in, after all, and to abandon her would be to act in very bad faith.

His ears picked a faint noise from somewhere. He turned left and saw a little boy crying, still leashed to something on the ground, which turned out to be his dead mother. He looked on with only a small curiosity in how the woman was killed. Starvation, probably. Someone so poor couldn't have been mugged, and if she is sickly or already gaunt from hunger there might not be much of a motive to rape her.

"Poor thing," said Yuuki. The words held a genuine compassion he never thought he would hear from a pampered furniture ojou. But... she did say something about living with her family in poverty before, didn't she?

Whatever. "Let's go," he said.

Another half-hour passed rather uneventfully. Only a few bad-mouthing drunks emerged from a few cars, and none of them tried to accost someone holding a hostage, thinking Kazuto to be another toughie to be evaded.

Yuuki was heavily panting and now loudly sighing.

"Hey." He was getting irritated. "Don't put on a show like that. I know you can't stand the odors of the real world, but at least don't make it obvious."

"Pills," she managed to blurt. "Pills..."

"What? You even want to have a drug cocktail out here? You're being very insulting now, you know that?"

But then, he saw her jaw quivering in pain. He was at a loss. Has she become so used to luxury even her very body was affected by grit? Soon, however, the girl simply collapsed, having fainted from the exertion.

* * *

Yuuki was still in agony when he she became conscious again a short while later. Kazuto had laid her out on a makeshift cot of a hollowed-out fridge stuffed with some Styrofoam. She was panting in short, faint breaths and could only utter about pills. It became obvious to him now that she really needed the stuff.

"Come on, girl," he said trying to hide the worry in his voice. "You got to go on. You gotta live without that stuff for only part of one night! And your sugardad's got a lot; we'll get you some when we get there."

"Listen..." she gasped. Cough. "I have to... tell you this... now."

"Quit nagging already!"

_"Please!"_ The voice with which she said that one word was filled with so much pain and earnest it caught him cold. She devolved into a spell of coughing, panting, and combinations of both. "It's been almost... two... hours now... since I had... my... pills..."

"OK, OK!" he finally said. "I'll run back to your place. Just hang on and stay in place. I'll hide you from those drunks."

"I'm sure... Kuzuki knows... far more... of the information you want... though I barely have... an idea... myself. Look here... I'm his favorite... girl... Hostage me in front of him... He'll give you a lead... if you ask... the right questions. Then, if you have what you're looking for... hand me over... And, then... maybe... I'll have my pills."

He resolved to speak no further. If he makes it hard on her and she faints before she could become useful, he has only endangered himself coming out in the open.

He carried her for the rest of the way while she gave directions. It was much faster this way, and before the next half-hour expired, he found himself in front of a dimly-lit building the size of a hangar. Yellow Box. He recognized it from the newspapers as one of the distribution hoards of Soylent Greens and a number of other merchandise.

Yuuki took out a small key she had been hiding in her hair and used it to open a small personnel door by the main gate. They are now in.

Once inside, Kazuto resumed binding Yuuki's hands and urging her on, only gentler this time. She was also able to speak better now, having rested some while on his back, but she will be needing a pill pretty soon.

She directed him onto a stairway, then across a high metal walkway. He was barely able to see anything back on the floor in the dark, but the lights of an office up ahead lent some illumination which enabled him to see those bulldozers, the scoops, arrayed in a line far below. Whoever is behind this place is heavily involved in the giveout of Soylent to the public.

They finally reached the door of the office. She told him to be discreet as he negotiated with the man, all the while never letting go of her until he receives the info. To emphasize her point, she reached out and inserted that same key into the locked door.

And opened it very lightly.

She was about to open the door halfway when Kazuto stopped her, taking hold of her wrist. He could see a man standing with his back to them, talking on the phone in a loud fit of laughing and conversation. Maybe, even here, he could already glean enough intel to begin with.

"Well, sir, the delivery statement should be at your doorstep within the week."

The phone was at a loudspeaker mode. The other end's voice rang clearly across the still night air. "The clients from Austria and Wales are very skittish. They want at least a sampling tomorrow afternoon."

_Kayaba!_

He tried mightily not even to yelp. This is it. Chancing upon the game master himself. There's no better place to start.


	9. Endgame

"Well, what about our Soylent production?" asked Kuzuki.

"You can put that on hold for now," explained Kayaba. "Right now we'll just produce as many furnishings as we could before next Friday. Our clients want all kinds of furniture now. Items for pedophiles, for homosexuals, for regular sex…"

"Ahahah! I have a full complement for you right here. All sexes. All of them no older than twenty-two, the youngest going down to eleven. Everything is just perfect for the market."

"So, how much will each fetch?"

"Juveniles aged thirteen down goes for about 20,000 dollars."

Dollars? _No way, _thought Kazuto. They were selling human beings on an international market!

"Indeed," Kuzuki followed up. "The more Asian-looking they are, the better the price we could negotiate."

"Wait. I know several of these customers we have now. A few are very picky. Just to make sure… cull them. The people you have in store. Grade them according to youth and sexual vigor. Leave out the cheapest grades for recycling."

OK. Enough meat talk.

"Kuzuki!" he announced flinging the door open. The man was shocked to find someone creep up to him in a locked office in the middle of the night. But the look on his face transformed as one completely appalled upon seeing his favorite concubine captured. He dropped the phone, and the call hung up.

"I got you a brand-new item! This one starts at 75 thousand."

"Louse," said Kuzuki in contempt, but could not do anything.

"Relax, I'm not after your money, sir, I just want to know a few things."

"You better stay in your apartment, brat. You should know what it's like to step on other people's property."

"But of course. You only need to spill a few details."

"You got some ambition, kid. Ordering me around with the intel like some Mafioso." But the large beads of sweat forming everywhere on his face effectively belied his bluff. "Give her back!" he suddenly thundered at him. This breakdown was a very satisfying opening to Kazuto.

"It is useless," continued the man trying to talk him out one last time. "Everything in this company and in every one of its facilities are sealed tight from any scrutiny. Only the international board of directors knows anything of significance, and in Japan, there is only one of them: Akihiko Kayaba!

"You made a fatal mistake crashing in on me. No one can ever uncover what the company chooses to hide!"

Kazuto smirked.

"So… You can't tell me anything about Soylent Green?"

The man lost it again. _"Do I have to repeat myself?!"_ he shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Good," Kazuto only said. "I just want a few names. You can have your plaything back if you give me the whereabouts of only six players. Think of it, sir: save yourself all the trouble of seeing your woman in another's arms, _for_ _only six names! _You don't have to spill any of the workings of your silly little corporation. Heh. It might have been different if I were a Fed."

When Kuzuki failed to make any reaction, he started to nibble away at the back of Yuuki's neck. He also began to lift her skirt.

Kuzuki watched with gritted teeth as Kazuto started to play on the rest of her head, especially behind the ears. Yuuki suitably responded, moaning soft cries as her captor nibbled her ear.

"You can't sway me with that!" he said in a nervous rage. "Yuuki's priced at only 30 thousand, not 75! Hah! You obviously overestimated her. You think you can negotiate, but forget that only valuable cards play well, if you even play at all!"

_Oh, is that so? Well, I guess I could just have her if you don't really need her that much._

Kazuto put a hand into her skirt. While he wasn't actually touching any sensitive areas, a mind such as Kuzuki's started to play out grotesque molestations, and was infuriated that it wasn't he who was doing it. It didn't help that Yuuki was now crying out convincingly.

"OK!" he finally yielded, in a pathetic wail. "I'll give you your names. Just… Just let me have her now!"

"I find it amusing you'd go all out for a 30-thousand-worth piece of junk. Well… I guess it's only fair to give away mere names in exchange for a cheap sex toy." He pointed at him. "You must give me proof that your lead is real before I surrender her."

He dived into his pocket and produced a set of keys, which he flung onto the floor. Kazuto gingerly picked it up, all the while holding on to the girl. He showed them to her, and she nodded, confirming that they were real and led to one of the many basements.

"If you are looking for players," he said tossing him a clipboard which held the names, "Mr. Kayaba has recently ordered all ALO losses within a month before now to go into furniture production, so you can be sure they are safe. They only received a temporary paralysis from a split-second pulse of current."

Kazuto gave her a push that sent her staggering across the middle of the room straight at Kuzuki. The man wasted no time. In an instant, Kuzuki pounced on the lady and bit her hard on the ear, making her scream. He then wrapped himself around her and carried her to a wall which he pinned her against, all the while he also lifted the skirt and proceeded directly into doing the thing right in front of Kazuto. He watched in confused horror as the man ravaged the girl. Is there a man insane enough to immediately rape a just-released hostage? Is there any sane man left on earth?

Just then, he felt his rage coming. Clearly there was no question about this creature's treatment of Yuuki.

When he has finished, he licked her in the neck as if to savor the leftovers. Yuuki looked very drained by now. For a moment he was afraid she was already dead.

It was therefore a major shock to him when he suddenly heard a tired chuckle emanate from the spent body of the girl, which even managed to shake with laughter! But there's no mistaking the hoarseness in the voice that actually spoke. "You all fall… for the same tricks."

Kazuto watched as Kuzuki's face morphed from one of smug pleasure, to back into crazed agitation.

"I tried… to tell you. You would not… believe me when I… told you I might be sick. I… could not reach you. Your phone's always busy."

_"Don't you mess with me!"_ he screamed. "I don't want your excuses! You are mine. I can use any way I want, any time I want!"

"But of course." Chuckle. "Though I must… tell you… what you're getting now. You should have checked. A handful of men have used me before. One of them had AIDS…"

The look on both men's faces could hardly be described. Surely, this couldn't be real. Wait, those pills… They were…

Painkillers?

Yuuki spent the rest of her remaining energy in a full, if hoarse, laugh. "You should see yourself now, Kuzuki!"

With a blood-curdling shriek he struck Yuuki again and again, and one of his blows chanced upon the red button of the NerveGear still strapped on her. The girl quivered violently for a moment, and then lay still. The look on her dead face was one of smiling victory.

Kuzuki looked on in disbelief seeing his doll lifeless. His jaw dropped and trembled, but before he could utter more than a small wail, Kazuto has already bounded across the room to him and struck him hard in the face.

The man, having been exhausted, first, by relieving his tension on Yuuki, and then beating her, was powerless in the face of Kazuto's advances. For about five minutes, he pounded and pounded at him, until suddenly, stopped by a leg cramp from the exertion, he looked down on the vanquished figure. It was then that he remembered that the he had also tried to impose himself on the dead lady. Guess he deserved as much a beating himself. Besides, his real objective in coming here still lay ahead.

He took the key and unlocked a small door beside the window; it opened onto a narrow winding staircase. He had some trouble fitting his movements into the cramped space, but he soon got used to it. There were landings that led to a number of locked rooms, but he chose to go all the way to the very bottom.

There, he saw four doors. It wasn't hard to pick out the right one. Only one was lighted.

He came in was completely astonished to find so many people tied up by the hands and gagged in rows after rows of human flesh about to be sold on the market. It was daunting to consider searching through this many people. He looked at the clipboard. Asuna shared her real name (Asuna Yuuki, which he thought lame on her part, using the same name for her character in-game) and even an old address as part of her commitment to him. At the time it seemed no more than a ceremonial gesture but now he was glad he picked the right person. He knew the girls were more apt to share their real names within a team though he surmised probably only Leafa volunteered to actually give away hers. The others would have to be uncovered by wilder guessing.

It didn't take him long to get to the row number and item number that marked his girl. He was astonished to see that she was… well… exactly as she looked like in the game. When she saw him her eyes widened with disbelief and joy. She immediately recognized him; he wasn't the pretentious type, he had also decided not to cloak how he looked.

"Kirito…" she said rapt as soon as he removed the gag. She threw herself on him and planted a kiss on his lips before cuddling up to him sobbing. "I had lost all hope. I never… I never thought my knight would rescue me in the real world, also."

He was not as enthusiastic. He knew he had cheated on her… How was he to make it up to her now?

"We must find the others," he said. "I have a list here. Do you know their real names?"

"Um!" she assented. "It should be easy to spot them. Our team does not make too many embellishments on our real-world appearences. I might have forgotten at least one name, though."

"That will do." He quickly led her away by hand and they swept past the still-bound people who looked on at them, some in hopeful pleading, others in anger that they should be so ignored. They quickly found their other teammates without having to resort any further to the list and released them one by one.

"Haahh!" gasped Keiko Ayano as soon as her gag was torn off. "I was sure I'd be dead tomorrow."

Everybody looked at each other in gladness and relief. Indeed, their real-life appearances differed little, if any, from their in-game character designs. It felt nice to make a name in Alfheim that can be credited to your real face.

So… Lizbeth's here. So was Leafa. Asuna, of course, then, Silica, and Klein. "I'm so grateful!" he nearly wept. "I never even dreamed of dancing in a gay bar."

But one member's missing.

"It will be a tad hard to look for a person who have had aquamarine hair," remarked Kazuto, referring to Sinon.

"Bleh," scoffed Keiko. "Who needs to rescue a two-face?"

"But you were a fan of hers, right? Surely you know her full name?"

"Humph," she said looking away.

"Look, kid, I know deep in your heart that you still really like her. You're only heartbroken." He tapped her shoulder. "Don't worry, once we find her, you can give her the biggest slap you can whup at her! That a bargain?"

Keiko pouted for a little while more, but she calmed down and gave a bit of a smirk.

They found her tied at a far corner of the basement. Yep, that's her alright, as she appeared in the picture, different from her in-game character. Shino Asada in real life. They were astonished to find her in a separate area as though she had a special use. Oh, well, she's fairly popular, anyway… But surely everybody would know if she disappeared off the air.

"They'll just say I suddenly got sick or something," she explained when they untied her. "If the new jock turns out to be more popular than me, I might as well be forgotten."

"As you should," said Keiko in a huff.

The team was turning to leave, but then Kazuto noticed that the jock was not with them. When he turned to look for her, he saw her standing in the same corner she was tied to, arms folded and glaring at them.

"What? You've given up on your radio career? Fine. If you want to be furniture, it's up to you. Just don't say we didn't rescue you."

"Kazuto!" she said sharply. She voiced with such authority they just had to stop and look her way.

"Look around you, please," she continued. They did so, and they saw everyone still being tied up, still either glaring or pleading at them.

"But of course," said Kazuto with a little chuckle. "Still, we can't free you all now, can we? There's only the seven of us."

Shino grabbed one fellow and untied him. "Now there are eight. If even I alone untie three more, there will be eleven of us. If each of us eleven guys untie only one, that would be twenty-two. And if twenty-two guys untie one each… I say… _All of us will release three each!"_

This geometric progression ensured that all of the captives, about a hundred and ten in all, were freed within the hour. Shino climbed up on a box for a platform and addressed them all. It was easy to get everyone's attention when you're a celeb. "Guys," she said, "I know that in a game everyone looks out only for his own, and alliances don't last. I say we form such a temporary fusion for all of us.

"If another team does you a favor, you had to recognize this even if they may be competing with you. Some of you even trade items. But right now, none of us have anything to give. So none of us in this room can return the favor to anyone else in here.

"The only way you can say thanks for your freedom is to help those that are still in the game and being victimized. We will make sure the world hears of this racket. Please! Remember everyone!"

Shino's prestige over the radio carried over for the moment and soon she was organizing a rescue effort.

"You," she motioned to Kazuto. "Go out and find players in their houses before they get shocked." To a few others, "And you, too. And you!

"Asuna-san, please lead the party that enters cyberspace to warn everybody. I'll see what I can do from the sidelines. I can monitor you from a laptop."

In no time, everybody got going. Asuna and company went back to their homes and donned their gears, while Kazuto went off on his own after his party split to reach as many people as soon as they could.

Only…

Every house he found inevitably had the doors left open. Every time he barged into them, the beds were also empty. He had come too late.

This frustrating run went on and on well into daybreak, and into past seven A.M. Perhaps it's time he sought out secluded apartments. Whoever's taking the players would not want to be obvious in the strengthening daylight.

* * *

_Link start..._

In a few minutes, Asuna found herself back in her in-game form. She found herself in the cabin she and Kirito had purchased so long ago, and was shocked to see the windows boarded up and the door broken down. It must have been boarded up as well and had to be wrecked by Kirito. Such a precious place hurt if even a little bit got damaged, even if it was necessary.

She went out and found the crowd ready and waiting outside. "Everyone," she said happily. "I can see that we are ready to tell the others. Be brave! Say to them that we don't want to fight. Prepare to defend yourselves, but talk sense into them first of all. Alright, let's do this!"

The group of about fifty members grew bit by bit as they chanced upon isolated droves of PKs looking for rats. A lot of them were stunned to suddenly run into this many people banding together that they can't help but join if only they felt something completely new is afoot. In a comparably short time, the crowd grew to about a hundred and eighty.

They arrived at a killing field where pixels flew everywhere as parties slaughtered the rats they have rounded onto the area. When they noticed the abnormally huge throng arrive, they couldn't help but stop awhile and stare at them all.

Asuna went ahead of the crowd and walked atop a low rise where everybody could see her. She could not help but wince at the scene of desolation.

_"Monsters!"_

The PK parties froze at that voice. The whole lot of them were bewildered; some started to grip at their weapons to confront her, but before they could move, they were caught off-guard by a soothing follow-up voice. "That is how your fellows view you right now.

"They are terrified of you. They can't do anything against the terrible giants who hack at them with axes and swords and chains!"

When Asuna explained everything to them, the players being half-electrocuted and then sold for flesh and all, they dropped their weapons and stared the rats in terror. Having done such a deed to their fellowmen, they now feared it would be their turn. Some wanted to openly question them, but the crowd was so huge, Asuna spoke so convincingly, and the fact of dead players never returning so well-known they could not refute it.

* * *

Spot on.

Kazuto took out the emergency card he got from Shino, which opens electronic doors in emergencies. And indeed, no emergency so far was greater than this. This door was still locked so perhaps the victim would still be alive in-game.

When entered, however, to fellow was already quivering. He quickly found the electrical connection and unplugged the unit.

The victim's pulse was still beating when he checked the man over. He wondered when the guy would wake up from this. It maddened him a bit that the very reason why this one's still alive was because of the enemy's own greed for furniture profits and tried to think how they could possibly dispose of these innocents if ever the NerveGear really did "outright kill" as Yuuki had claimed.

In the meantime, in VR, enraged players have thrown down their LC capes in protests and started to mill about in the field shouting curses at Kayaba, threatening to find hm out in the real world. To that end, they decided to log out.

"Huh? Where's the Log-Out button?"

The same problem assaulted everyone else. Soon, murmurings started to escalate into open complaints, and grumblings into horrified screaming. Asuna was stricken. So that's how low Akihiko Kayaba could go.

The sky above them darkened, then reddened, turning into a ceiling of crimson-lined polygons. To everybody's horror, the sides of the unearthly-looking shapes began to drip bloody goo, which merged themselves into the hooded figure of Kayaba himself.

"A pleasant day to everyone, my friends," he greeted them.

"Don't you dare call us that!" ranted a player.

"Oh… But I only wanted you to have fun, didn't I? I advise you to continue with your mission of killing your foes, for as long as even one rat lives, no one can log out. This time, if Thrym emerges before you could completely clear this space all of you will die in game, and then your NerveGears will release an electrical pulse that will kill you instantly.

"The same thing will happen if someone tries to forcibly remove your Gear.

"To my dearest guests… (referring to Asuna and her party) I highly recommend you assist these valiant heroes in their quest, or you will die as well." To this he released a deep chuckle that sent a chill into everybody. There was now howls of terror tearing into the air everywhere.

"A pleasant day for real to everyone!" rang a voice.

The air of despair immediately transformed into a lighthearted atmosphere. It was an unnerving whiplash to Kayaba. "W-What is this insolence?!" he said, caving in.

"It's DJ Crystal!" said the players. Someone has broken into this death game, and no one less than the popular jock.

"Thank you _so… much…" _she said delivering that trademark verbal tic that put a smile on everybody's lips and broke the tension in the air. "I know you guys can never really forget the real world."

"They will never get back to the real world!" boomed Kayaba. "I will have you arrested!"

"Hmmm," Sinon replied. "I wonder which of us will get to jail first." To this, the game master could not put up a reply. All he could manage was bluff some more.

"They are all mine now. If you try one silly move, I can end them right now!"

"Oh?" she said. The actual jock was indeed sitting with her laptop, at the control room of a power substation. The main switchboard was at her disposal. Two guards, employees of Kuzuki's company who had taken over illegally, were bound up in a corner, overseen by a policeman who she had to badmouth into arresting them after his station got bribed.

"Onee-chan!" cried out a player in despair rover the laptop, "No one can remove our gears. We'd get fried!"

"Have some common sense, for once!" she reprimanded back at cyberspace. "Do I have to come to your apartments one by one and yank those things off of you? It would ruin my makeup!"

With that, she quickly flipped all the important switches, cutting off power in a large swathe of the city. "Now we'll see if Kayaba can send over pigeons to tell those gears to grill all those meat."

Kazuto saw the lights go out all around him, and soon, the apartment he's in got dark. He will have to haul this guy quickly out of here before Kuzuki's boys could take him away.

But he was a bit late. A team of four barged through the door to pick the man up and were startled to find him there. Kazuto took a crowbar and began knocking the team unconscious, hitting them in the knees and joints and successfully fending them off when they tried to get him. In a tight corner, his game skills could better take on superior numbers. Two of the guys realized they were in a bind and hastily broke through the door.

They escaped to a huge dump truck on the street below. It seems the large compartment was airtight. No one could probably even smell what was inside. He felt sure there were more unconscious human beings in there so he grabbed onto a ladder at the side and scrambled up to the top of the truck just as it picked up momentum.

In the driver seat, a phone rang. The man picked it up. "Re-route your store immediately to Recycling. Something's happened. There won't be no furnishings for now."

So now it took about an hour longer to get to their actual destination. Kazuto had almost fallen half-asleep from exhaustion and didn't quite realize where they were headed to, fighting off a tendency for nodding off and being in a daze whilst trying to hold on precariously, right up to the very moment the truck went into a shed and parked. By then, he had succumbed to his tiredness.

About half an hour has passed, with Kazuto still sprawled and limp atop the truck, when the thing quivered and started to rise, rousing him instantly and making him scramble for something to hold on to. There was none. He saw the bodies being dumped out the back of the truck, down an open chute. He slid off and fell into the vent himself.

When he came to, he found himself lying among the bodies, still warm, pulses still beating. They were being moved along in a conveyor belt.

He saw heavy plastic drapes up ahead. When he passed into them, the area suddenly filled with a purple gas. Not taking any chances, he cupped his nose and mouth.

After a short while, the conveyor belt passed out of the gassing area. Kazuto got up and checked the people around him. They weren't moving any more.

_What on earth—? _

He frantically shook the bodies trying to wake them, if he could, even though he knew it could be futile already. But there was that small spot in him. He refused to believe there could be this much cruelty in the world.

"Everyone! Please! Wake up! _Wake up!"_

Suddenly he heard a faint whir in the background. To his chagrin, he saw that the belt was carrying the entire load of them down another chute. He had to see for himself what lay in that tube for even just a moment…

And he saw rows of spinning _blades._

It was then that he jerked quickly back, scrambling through the bodies that lay in his way. He fell off the belt to a huge tank below.

* * *

Asuna, freed from Kayaba's grip, rallied the players to a pre-agreed point, Shinjuku. Arriving there, she was totally astounded by the number of people who turned out. She never knew there were this many MMO players in Tokyo.

And one of the leaders of the massive crowd: DJ Crystal. Shino Asada.

The people intended to hold a march in front of the Soylent Corporation to petition for transparency in their dealings, but since it was based in the U.S., they decided to make for the nearest large plant for Soylent Green in Japan, just outside the Metropolitan Area. They occupied the aged train line and urged the stagnant station crew to make a trip.

It was quite a sight. A whole length of train brimming with all stripes and shades of people, youth and even a number of adults who had been fed up with the real world, yet returned to it to raise awareness and make a difference, waving flags and cheering at the tired onlookers everywhere who until now didn't realize something new could happen to their ragged world. It was a sublime moment, and Asuna wept openly and unashamedly in the middle of the crowd.

* * *

Kazuto was finally able to grab onto the rung of a ladder built into the inside of the tank. He hastened up the ladder and when he was high enough, he stopped to catch his breath.

When he had fallen in, he was sinking into something. The tank was filled with something. Not water, or any liquid. It cracked, was fragile, something a person of his weight could easily disappear into.

He looked back but it was too dark and the only light was from the opening above him. He decided to scoop some of the stuff and example the samples.

Flakes.

He smelled them. This is familiar.

Perhaps they can be eaten. He tasted.

Veggie flakes.

But why were there bodies in a vegetable-processing factory?

Come to think of it, he never actually saw any real vegetables so far, has he? Yuuki had just told him actual plant foods like the one he enjoyed along with the steak back at Ropponggi were relics of a forgotten past. And there don't seem to be any in this facility.

He's going to find some.

He ascended the ladder and went out of the tank. He got down the ladder on the outer side, and alighted onto a catwalk overlooking another conveyor belt, this time with the flakes riding on the belt. If perhaps he went back and followed the source, he would get some high-end actual plants to eat. The ones only the rich could afford. That would be a nice level-up.

He carefully crept past buzzing and droning contraptions, dodging the occasional crew. Not that there were many. With all these huge gizmos it was mere cake to blend in.

It took him quite a while to follow the river of flakes upstream, but soon he found the end of it. Several large vats. It was quite hot and humid, but he braved them like they were some lava pits in the Fire Realm under Jothunheimr. Nothing that could quite stop him.

Hands.

Eyes.

Guts.

Parts floating around and stewing in the vast brew. What is this?

But he already knew. He just wouldn't admit it for the moment.

It took him a long look at the place where… stuff… were coming out of the chute. He saw… It was the lower end… of the same chute that nearly sliced him back there when he lay with the bodies of dead Alfheim players…

His hands shook. He lost his grip. His knees weakened. He footing faltered. He slipped and fell back down to the base of the great steaming vat. His body ached from the crash, but he was too busy with the shock to mind. His face contorted into one of agony, of shaking and moaning.

_"Aggghhhh!"_

* * *

"It's Kirito-kun!" Asuna suddenly said.

"Eh?" said Silica. "You must be hearing things. Could Onii-chan have possibly broken into that place?"

"I don't know," she replied uncertainly. "But I know him…" She closed her eyes, hoping that, if he was actually in there, he was safe.

They had just arrived at the plant. Security was trying to keep them out but even those guys were unsure of themselves. How does one dissuade a throng this large?

Just then, the head of security received word that the plant manager had seen the crowd, and, thinking it was another violent riot, fled at the news of the oncoming train. So now they were on their own. Interested on keeping the plant (and its secret) intact, and thinking the crowd must only be wanting something to eat, he genially called out over the speakers to calm down, letting them in and redirecting them to the vast parking lot, where he directed the crew to hand out boxes of Soylent Green.

"Sir," said a subordinate over the intercom, "there's an intruder. At the processing area. He was going nuts. Must have seen the production floor."

This was bad. "If we put him into the vat right now, you think our plant will be safe?"

"Maybe not, sir. The crowd might be looking for him, also. Let's carry him out for them to see and then shove him into the ambulance… gas him in there and bring him back here."

"Yes, yes, I think that would be fine."

An hour later, everybody had settled into a banquet of veggie flakes. They decided for the moment to occupy the plant until a Soylent representative could arrive for an open dialogue.

"Look!"

The crowd started milling about. They weren't quite sure for a while what was going on but Asuna and her team instantly knew and rushed forward. Employees were carrying on a stretcher a familiar face.

"Kirito!" cried Asuna.

She rushed to his side and embraced him as the rest of the team gathered amid a crush of onlookers. But he was in a daze and no matter how much she talked to him, he seemed to hear nothing.

"Kirito-kun… Are you sick?"

Klein went over and shook him. "Hey buddy. Tiger, look at me."

Finally, Kazuto snapped out of his daze and saw him. With an expression of relief and urgency at the same time, he grabbed Klein by the collar.

"Hey, hey. Easy buddy. We're here for you."

"You got to tell them! _You got to tell 'em!"_

Not quite understanding his friend, but wanting him to calm him down first of all he smiled and re-assured him. "I promise, Tiger. I'll tell them."

Now, the crew started to take Kazuto away once more out to the waiting ambulance. Now the urgency was irresistible. "You got to tell everybody. Listen to me, Klein! You got to tell 'em! _Soirento wa hito da!" _His voice faded as he was carried farther and farther from them. "_Hito! Hito! Hito!"_

Kazuto was finally taken into the ambulance and was driven off. The team was somewhat bewildered. "What was that about?" asked Rika Shinozaki, aka Lizbeth. "What's with people?"

"I'm so proud of Onii-chan," said Suguha, teary-eyed. "Even now, he speaks for the people. He is a very worthy leader of men."

"I know," smiled Asuna, now even more loving his Kirito.

"But it sounded like he was mad," said Klein. "Like, I think he said, Soylent Green's bad for the people."

"Hah?" disagreed Keiko. "That's far-out. Get your hearing straight, OK? Soylent Green's so great, it sells itself in other people's commercials!"

"You're right," seconded Lizbeth. "Come on, guys, let's get down. You don't get a free lunch everyday, you know."

So they sat down to eat. Silica put a hand inside the box and when she got it out, she held a tiny Sylph warrior, thrashing about and screaming to be freed. But his cries were cut short when Keiko chomped down on his back, squirting geysers of blood, severing everything from the chest up from the rest of the body. The head went down Silica's eager throat.

Suguha got an Imp. She nibbled at the legs, cutting off the left one, before tiring of the game and popping the entire ody wholesale into her mouth.

Klein got three, a Salamander and two Spriggans. All of them he tossed into his maw.

Lizbeth enjoyed the soft flesh of an Undine.

Finally, Asuna held a leprechaun hanging from her mouth. She slurped it up and let the hapless fellow slide down the inside of her neck in a lump.

All this, thinking they were simple green flakes.

It's Zhiganzhina all over again.

**FIN.**


End file.
